Serena Williams, Lionel Messi, and Lewis Hamilton are legends of their sport, but fans of the 2006 film Cars also believe Lightning McQueen is also up there as one of the GOATs. The debate began in a recent episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show where a viewer - Danny in Wisconsin - asked the host where McQueen's Piston Cup wins would rank him amongst the sporting GOATs. “When you think about the GOAT of sports… where do you rank a guy like Lightning McQueen with seven Piston Cups?” he asked. It's fair to say Smith had a strong opinion on this topic, where he brought in the achievements of another character from the film - Strip ‘The King’ Weathers. “I would tell you, he wouldn’t be the GOAT… When you talk about Strip ‘The King’ Weathers and Lightning McQueen, they’re both tied with seven Piston Cups. How can you be the GOAT if you’ve got something tied with you? Sorry, that ain’t going to work,” he argued. Smith then accused Danny of trying to “catch him” out with Strip’s equally impressive record of seven Piston cups, equal to McQueen's. “You didn’t think I knew about Cars, did you? You slept on a brother,” the host said. He continued: “Strip Weathers has seven Piston Cups. I am not about to sit and argue with a grown-ass man about the movie Cars… you should have brought me someone who didn’t have as many Piston Cups." To which Smith then asked why the Cars characters were the subject of the debate rather than Fast & Furious. Danny shot back, making the point that Cars is “real to little kids” – but Smith was prepared with a rebuttal. “You’re not a little kid! You’re 21. You would have a point if you were seven years old [and] calling me. What are you doing, wearing a diaper?” he screamed there off-road and then proceeded to hang up on Danny. The clip has since gone viral receiving a whopping 28.1m views, and 140,000 likes. Meanwhile, there has also recently been further debate where Cars fans are ranking the characters in terms of their achievements. Many argued that Lightning McQueen is the GOAT - he does have main character energy after all. @alexcolemann @benlikessports Jackson Storm get ready to leaen chinese buddy🫡 However, not everyone agrees... One person said: "Strip Weathers won in 4 different eras. that’s all I’m gonna say." "Gotta be the King Strip Weathers ALL DAY," another person wrote. Someone else added: "Strip Weathers was the Messi of cars." "Strip weathers dominated in his own gen 2 era along with the gen 3off-road and gen 4 cars and he’s #2? The longevity over McQueen puts him at 1 in my book," a fourth person commented. Guess we'll all have to watch Cars again... How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
Serena Williams, Lionel Messi, and Lewis Hamilton are legends of their sport, but fans of the 2006 film Cars also believe Lightning McQueen is also up there as one of the GOATs.
The debate began in a recent episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show where a viewer - Danny in Wisconsin - asked the host where McQueen's Piston Cup wins would rank him amongst the sporting GOATs.
“When you think about the GOAT of sports… where do you rank a guy like Lightning McQueen with seven Piston Cups?” he asked.
It's fair to say Smith had a strong opinion on this topic, where he brought in the achievements of another character from the film - Strip ‘The King’ Weathers.
“I would tell you, he wouldn’t be the GOAT… When you talk about Strip ‘The King’ Weathers and Lightning McQueen, they’re both tied with seven Piston Cups. How can you be the GOAT if you’ve got something tied with you? Sorry, that ain’t going to work,” he argued.
Smith then accused Danny of trying to “catch him” out with Strip’s equally impressive record of seven Piston cups, equal to McQueen's.
“You didn’t think I knew about Cars, did you? You slept on a brother,” the host said.
He continued: “Strip Weathers has seven Piston Cups. I am not about to sit and argue with a grown-ass man about the movie Cars… you should have brought me someone who didn’t have as many Piston Cups."
To which Smith then asked why the Cars characters were the subject of the debate rather than Fast & Furious.
Danny shot back, making the point that Cars is “real to little kids” – but Smith was prepared with a rebuttal.
“You’re not a little kid! You’re 21. You would have a point if you were seven years old [and] calling me. What are you doing, wearing a diaper?” he screamed there off-road and then proceeded to hang up on Danny.
The clip has since gone viral receiving a whopping 28.1m views, and 140,000 likes.
Meanwhile, there has also recently been further debate where Cars fans are ranking the characters in terms of their achievements.
Many argued that Lightning McQueen is the GOAT - he does have main character energy after all.
@alexcolemann
@benlikessports
Jackson Storm get ready to leaen chinese buddy🫡
However, not everyone agrees...
One person said: "Strip Weathers won in 4 different eras. that’s all I’m gonna say."
"Gotta be the King Strip Weathers ALL DAY," another person wrote.
Someone else added: "Strip Weathers was the Messi of cars."
"Strip weathers dominated in his own gen 2 era along with the gen 3off-road and gen 4 cars and he’s #2? The longevity over McQueen puts him at 1 in my book," a fourth person commented.
Guess we'll all have to watch Cars again...
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Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter
Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
