Doc Hudson is the former Piston Cup champion with racing number 51 in Pixar’s Cars.
Doc is a 1951 Hudson Hornet who once competed as the Fabulous Hudson Hornet. He won three Piston Cup championships and set a record for wins in a single season before a crash ended his racing career and caused the racing world to move on without him.
In Radiator Springs, Doc works as the town doctor and judge. He initially dislikes McQueen’s reckless attitude, but he eventually becomes the rookie’s mentor and teaches him that racing is not only about speed.
Paul Newman voiced Doc Hudson in Cars, drawing on both his acting career and his real interest in motorsports. Doc’s character is inspired by the Hudson Hornet’s genuine success in early stock-car racing, though the film gives that history a fictional personal story.