ESPN personality and First Take host Stephen A. Smith declared Tuesday that Lightning McQueen is not the greatest of all time.
Smith made the announcement on The Stephen A. Smith Show after a caller rang in asking where the star of Disney's Cars franchise ranks among the greatest athletes.
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"When you think about the GOAT of sports, you think about [Michael Jordan] with six, [Tom] Brady with seven rings, but where do you rank a guy like Lightning McQueen with seven Piston Cups?" asked the caller, identified as Danny from Wisconsin.
McQueen can't be the GOAT, Smith replied.
A live caller tried to get me with a Cars question…it didn't go well for him pic.twitter.com/4oWClqoQrZ
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) November 22, 2023
"You're talking about the movie Cars, right?," Smith said. "I mean when you talk about Strip 'The King' Weathers and Lightning McQueen, they're both tied with seven Piston Cups. Strip Weathers? You forgot about him? How can you be the GOAT if you've got somebody that's tied with you? Sorry, that ain't gonna work. I know you tried to catch me with that ... You didn't think I knew about that, did you?"
"You slept on a brother!"
The caller then attempted to push back on Smith.
"When you think about Lightning McQueen, though, it's not the seven Piston Cups," Danny said. "He's got 28 circuits under his belt."
"Strip Weathers has seven Piston Cups," Smith retorted. "I'm not about to sit here and argue with a grown-a** man about the movie Cars. Strip Weathers had seven Piston Cups. You should have brought me somebody that didn't have as many Piston Cups."
Danny then suggested that comparing McQueen to Weathers is not fair when looking at their respective eras.
"Danny, how old are you?" Smith replied.
"I'm 21, Stephen," the caller said.
"You're still a young man," Smith declared. "What about Fast & Furious, you watch that movie?"
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Danny said he did, and Smith asked which film was his favorite, to which Danny said Fast Five.
"That was with Vin Diesel and the Rock going at it, when the Rock was trying to hunt him down and all that," Smith said. "What I'm saying to you is I think you picked the right one, cause I liked Five a lot, I really, really did. My point is if you're gonna argue with me about something, how about it not be an animated movie like Cars. How about it be something like Fast & Furious? I would have appreciated the question better."