In Pixar’s Cars 3, Smokey teaches Lightning McQueen the racing technique of Doc Hudson.
Smokey is a longtime friend and former crew chief of Doc Hudson. When McQueen visits Thomasville, Smokey explains how Doc adapted after his racing career was damaged by a crash and a changing racing world. Rather than treating Doc only as a retired champion, Smokey shows McQueen how Doc learned to use experience, positioning, and track knowledge.
The training helps McQueen understand that beating newer racers does not require copying their technology. He studies Doc’s methods on the dirt track and learns to turn his older experience into an advantage. The lesson also deepens McQueen’s connection to Doc, who had been his mentor in the first film.
Smokey is not teaching McQueen a technique belonging to The King or Chick Hicks. Those racers are important figures in the Piston Cup story, but Doc Hudson is the former racer whose methods anchor this part of Cars 3.