69 Fun Facts About Cars Movie

Who voices Lightning McQueen in the Cars films?

Owen Wilson voices Lightning McQueen in every feature film; Keith Ferguson takes over the role in the Cars Toons shorts and most of the video games.

Why was Lightning McQueen's racing number changed from the planned 57 to 95?

To mark the year Toy Story was released, 1995, Pixar switched the number to 95; the original 57 would have referred to director John Lasseter's birth year.

In which forgotten town does Lightning get stranded in the first film?

Radiator Springs is the faded town, bypassed when Interstate 40 was built, where Lightning is sentenced to repave the main street he tore up.

Which championship trophy is Lightning chasing throughout the first film?

The Piston Cup is the prize; the season ends in a dead heat between Lightning, Chick Hicks and The King, forcing a tiebreaker race at the Los Angeles International Speedway.

Which legendary actor voiced Doc Hudson in his last non-documentary film role?

Paul Newman, himself a serious racing driver, voiced Doc Hudson; after his death in 2008 Doc was written out of Cars 2, then returned in Cars 3 through unused recordings.

Doc Hudson is a 1951 example of which car?

Hudson Hornet: Doc is a 1951 model, and his 'Fabulous Hudson Hornet' past echoes the real Hornets that Herb Thomas and Marshall Teague drove to NASCAR dominance in the early 1950s.

How many championships did Doc win in his racing days?

Three championships, won in 1951, 1952 and 1953, sit gathering dust in Doc's garage; he waves them off as 'just empty cups' when Lightning finds them.

Who voices Tow Mater?

Larry the Cable Guy voices Mater, the rusty tow truck, in every film; the Blue Collar Comedy Tour comedian has stuck with the role across the shorts and series since 2006.

What was the job of Douglas Keever, the NASCAR fan Mater is named after?

Construction boss Douglas 'Mater' Keever, a site superintendent from North Carolina, introduced himself as 'Mater, like tuh-mater without the tuh', a line that went straight into the film.

Mater's design was inspired by a rusty old wrecker spotted on Route 66 in Galena, in which state?

Kansas: the rusty 1951 boom truck that inspired Mater sits in Galena outside a restored service station, where it is billed as 'Tow Tater'.

Sally, the town attorney voiced by Bonnie Hunt, is what kind of car?

A 2002 Porsche 911 Carrera is Sally's model; in 2022 Porsche and Pixar built a real one-off 911, the 'Sally Special', which sold at auction for charity.

Which local business does Sally run in the first film?

The Cozy Cone Motel is Sally's business, with rooms shaped like giant traffic cones; it was modelled on the Wigwam Motel, with its teepee-shaped rooms on the highway in Holbrook, Arizona.

Chick Hicks, Lightning's cheating rival voiced by Michael Keaton, wears which racing number?

86 is Chick's number, a nod to 1986, the year Pixar became an independent company; his grille is styled like a 1980s moustache and he apes Lightning's 'ka-chow' as 'ka-chicka'.

Which NASCAR legend voices Strip 'The King' Weathers, a 1970 Plymouth Superbird?

Richard Petty, NASCAR's record-setting champion, voices Strip 'The King' Weathers; his real wife Lynda Petty voices The King's wife, and Darrell Waltrip appears as announcer Darrell Cartrip.

Which comedian voiced Fillmore, the hippie Volkswagen bus, in the first film?

George Carlin voiced Fillmore, the peace-sign-painted 1960 VW bus, in the first film; after Carlin died in 2008, Lloyd Sherr took over the role for the sequels.

Luigi's tyre shop is famous for a stack of tyres shaped like which landmark?

The Leaning Tower of Pisa inspired Luigi's 'Leaning Tower of Tires'; Luigi is a 1959 Fiat 500 voiced by Tony Shalhoub, and his forklift sidekick Guido speaks only Italian, except for 'pit stop'.

Which Pixar regular voices Mack, Lightning's transporter truck?

John Ratzenberger, Cliff on Cheers and Pixar's long-running good-luck charm, voices Mack, the 1985 Mack Super-Liner who hauls Lightning from race to race.

Lizzie, the elderly Model T who runs the curio shop, is the widow of which car?

Stanley, the town's founder, was Lizzie's husband; his statue stands in the middle of town, and Lizzie was voiced by Katherine Helmond, who voiced her through Cars 3 before her death in 2019.

Which Route 66 historian voices Sheriff and led Pixar's animators on research trips down the highway?

Michael Wallis, author of the 1990 book The Mother Road, voices Sheriff; he guided John Lasseter and the Pixar crew on their research drives along the highway before production.

What was the working title of Cars in 2001, dropped to avoid confusion with a 1960s TV series?

Route 66 was the working title, dropped to avoid confusion with the 1960s TV series of the same name; Jorgen Klubien's earlier pitch, The Yellow Car, had been about an electric car in a gas-guzzling world.

Cars was dedicated to Joe Ranft, a Pixar story chief and co-writer who died how?

In a car crash: Joe Ranft died in August 2005 when the car he was riding in went off Highway 1 in Mendocino County, California; the film is dedicated to him, and he voiced Red the fire truck.

Where did Cars hold its premiere on May 26, 2006?

Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, hosted the premiere on 26 May 2006, a racetrack screening for NASCAR country; the film opened nationwide on 9 June.

Cars was the last film Pixar made independently before which company bought the studio in January 2006?

Disney announced its $7.4 billion purchase of Pixar in January 2006, so Cars, released that June, was the last feature Pixar made as an independent studio.

Cars lost the Best Animated Feature Oscar to which film?

Happy Feet, George Miller's dancing-penguin musical, took the Best Animated Feature Oscar in February 2007; Cars did win the inaugural Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film and the Annie Award.

Which song from Cars won a Grammy and was nominated for the Best Original Song Oscar?

Our Town, sung by James Taylor over the montage of the town's decline, won the Grammy for best song written for a film and lost the Oscar to 'I Need to Wake Up' from An Inconvenient Truth.

Which country act recorded the version of 'Life Is a Highway' heard in Cars?

Rascal Flatts recorded the cover of 'Life Is a Highway' for the film's cross-country montage; Tom Cochrane's original had been a number-one hit in Canada in 1991.

Cars is often compared to which 1991 Michael J. Fox comedy about a doctor stuck in a small town?

Doc Hollywood, in which Fox's hotshot surgeon crashes in a South Carolina town and is sentenced to community service, shares its skeleton with Cars so closely that some critics cried plagiarism.

Which three-race international event does Lightning enter in Cars 2?

The World Grand Prix is the series created by Sir Miles Axlerod to promote his alternative fuel, Allinol; Lightning enters after the Italian star Francesco Bernoulli needles him on a TV chat show.

Which British actor voices the spy Finn McMissile in Cars 2?

Michael Caine voices Finn McMissile, the British secret agent whose silver-blue styling evokes the Aston Martin DB5 of the Bond films, and Caine's own 1960s spy roles as Harry Palmer.

Which city hosts the first of the three international races in Cars 2?

Tokyo hosts the opening race; at the promotional party there Mater mistakes wasabi for pistachio ice cream, and his dash to the bathroom is where the spies mistake him for their contact.

Francesco Bernoulli, Lightning's Formula One-style rival in Cars 2, is voiced by whom?

John Turturro voices Francesco Bernoulli, the preening Italian open-wheel champion whose taunts on a TV chat show goad Lightning into racing him abroad; Turturro also played Jesus Quintana in The Big Lebowski.

Sir Miles Axlerod, the secret villain of Cars 2, is voiced by which comedian?

Eddie Izzard voices Sir Miles Axlerod, the electric-converted former oil baron who bankrolls the races and turns out to be the mastermind behind the lemons' plot.

Professor Zundapp's two main henchmen are which much-mocked 1970s American cars?

AMC Gremlin and AMC Pacer are the models behind Grem and Acer, two of the unloved 1970s American compacts; the names are simply the model names with a syllable lopped off.

Which spy-in-training voiced by Emily Mortimer becomes Mater's love interest in Cars 2?

Holley Shiftwell, voiced by Emily Mortimer, is the rookie British agent paired with Finn McMissile; she mistakes Mater for an American spy and ends the film as his girlfriend.

Which Rotten Tomatoes score made Cars 2 the first 'rotten' Pixar film?

About 40 percent was Cars 2's Rotten Tomatoes score, the first 'rotten' rating for a Pixar feature after eleven straight fresh ones; yet it grossed more than $550 million worldwide.

Which of the three films in the franchise is the highest-grossing worldwide?

The 2011 sequel, Cars 2, took over $559 million worldwide, ahead of the original and Cars 3, which was the lowest of the trilogy at about $384 million.

Who directed Cars 3, taking over from John Lasseter?

Brian Fee made his directing debut with Cars 3 after working as a storyboard artist on the first two films; John Lasseter, who directed both, stayed on as executive producer.

Jackson Storm, the next-gen rookie who pushes Lightning toward retirement in Cars 3, is voiced by whom?

Armie Hammer voices Jackson Storm, the sleek high-tech rookie whose simulator-trained speed pushes Lightning toward retirement; Hammer had played the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network.

Cruz Ramirez, Lightning's trainer in Cars 3, is voiced by which comedian?

Cristela Alonzo, the stand-up behind the sitcom Cristela, voices Cruz Ramirez, the trainer who wanted to race herself and ends up finishing the final race in Lightning's place.

When Cruz becomes a racer at the end of Cars 3, which number does she choose in tribute to Doc Hudson?

51 was Doc's own racing number in his championship days, taken from his 1951 model year; Cruz paints it on when she takes up racing at the end of the film.

In Cars 3, Lightning tracks down Doc's old crew chief Smokey in which Georgia town?

Thomasville, Georgia, is where Doc came from, and Lightning finds his old crew chief Smokey, a 1940s Hudson pickup voiced by Chris Cooper, holding court there at the old dirt track.

Miss Fritter, the demolition-derby terror of Thunder Hollow in Cars 3, is what kind of vehicle?

A school bus, Miss Fritter is the demolition-derby champion of Thunder Hollow, fitted with stop-sign blades and a smokestack, and voiced by Lea DeLaria.

Which race must Lightning win in Cars 3 to earn the right to decide his own future?

The Florida 500 is the deal: the new owner of Rust-eze agrees that if Lightning wins it, he decides when he retires, and if he loses, he quits racing to sell merchandise.

Which animated short played in front of Cars 3 in cinemas?

Lou, Dave Mullins's short about a playground lost-and-found box that comes alive to confront a bully, played before Cars 3; it was nominated for the animated-short Oscar.

In Planes (2013), crop duster Dusty Crophopper dreams of racing despite what?

A fear of heights is Dusty's handicap, which is why he flies low over the fields; Dane Cook voices him in the spin-off set in 'the world of Cars'.

Cars Land, a 12-acre replica of Lightning's adopted hometown, opened in June 2012 at which theme park?

California Adventure in Anaheim, the park next to Disneyland, opened the 12-acre Cars Land on 15 June 2012; its headline ride uses the same ride system as Epcot's Test Track.

Roughly how much merchandise had the Cars brand sold by the time Cars 2 was released in 2011?

Nearly $10 billion in Cars merchandise had sold by 2011, five years after the first film, dwarfing the roughly $1.4 billion the trilogy took at the box office combined.

Under what title did the 2022 series in which Lightning and Mater take a cross-country trip premiere?

Cars on the Road premiered on streaming in September 2022, a nine-episode series that sends Lightning and Mater east to attend Mater's sister's wedding, with both original voice actors back.

Which DVD-exclusive short about a mysterious blue light was included with the first Cars home release?

Mater and the Ghostlight, a seven-minute short in which the town pranks Mater with tales of a haunting blue light, was made for the November 2006 DVD release.

Michael Schumacher has a cameo in Cars as which car?

A Ferrari F430 is Schumacher's car-self, who rolls into Luigi's shop at the end to buy tyres and leaves Luigi swooning; Mario Andretti and Dale Earnhardt Jr. also voice versions of themselves.

Which 1952 animated short inspired Lasseter to put the cars' eyes in their windscreens rather than headlights?

Susie the Little Blue Coupe, a 1952 animated short, put its heroine's eyes in the windscreen, and Lasseter followed it rather than the headlight-eyes convention so the whole car would read as a face.

At the start of Cars 3, how many championships has Lightning McQueen won?

7 championship titles are behind Lightning as Cars 3 opens; the season then goes badly, as Jackson Storm's generation overtakes him and it ends with a spectacular rollover crash in Los Angeles.

In Cars 3, which business car buys Rust-eze and tries to force Lightning into retirement?

Sterling, a sleek silver business car, buys Rust-eze and sees Lightning as a merchandising brand to be protected rather than a racer to be risked.

Which Firefly and Castle star voices the new owner of Rust-eze in Cars 3?

Nathan Fillion, Captain Mal Reynolds on Firefly and Richard Castle on Castle, voices the slick new owner of Rust-eze, a silver business car who wants Lightning off the track and onto merchandise.

What is the demolition derby that Lightning and Cruz enter in disguise at Thunder Hollow called?

Crazy Eight is the figure-eight demolition derby; Cruz, disguised as 'Frances Beltline', wins it, and Lightning's angry outburst afterwards knocks her trophy to the ground and breaks it.

Where do Lightning and Cruz try to record his top speed in Cars 3?

Fireball Beach is where Cruz sets up the speed run, but her lack of real-world experience shows: she has never raced on sand and keeps bogging down, so Lightning never gets a clean reading.

Which of these is one of Doc Hudson's old racing friends who helps train Lightning in Cars 3?

Louise 'Barnstormer' Nash, modelled on the pioneering driver Louise Smith, is one of Doc's old racing circle, along with River Scott and Junior 'Midnight' Moon, who help train Lightning.

Which Cars 3 statistical analyst does Kerry Washington voice?

Natalie Certain, voiced by Kerry Washington, is the numbers-driven analyst on the racing broadcast who gives Lightning almost no chance against Jackson Storm, a forecast the final race upends.

After her victory, Cruz turns down the new Rust-eze owner to sign with which team?

Dinoco, the blue-liveried team that had courted Lightning in the first film, signs Cruz; its owner Tex then buys Rust-eze as well, and Lightning repaints himself in a livery honouring Doc.

Who composed the score for Cars 3, returning from the first film?

Randy Newman scored the first film and returned for Cars 3, reusing some of his original themes, while Michael Giacchino had handled the spy-flavoured Cars 2.

Which Black Keys frontman wrote and performed the Cars 3 song 'Run That Race'?

Dan Auerbach, the Black Keys' singer and guitarist, wrote and performed 'Run That Race' for the Cars 3 soundtrack, which also included ZZ Ward's 'Ride' with Gary Clark Jr.

Cars 3 was first screened for the NASCAR industry in which North Carolina town?

Kannapolis, North Carolina, Dale Earnhardt's hometown in the heart of NASCAR country, hosted an early screening of Cars 3 for the racing industry ahead of its June 2017 release.

The new rendering system used on Cars 3, RIS, had previously been used on which Pixar film?

Finding Dory had been rendered with RIS, RenderMan's physically based path-tracing architecture, and Cars 3 adopted it for its more photographic lighting and reflective car paint.

A Citroën 2CV in Cars 3 is a tribute to which Hayao Miyazaki film?

John Lasseter announced the homage at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2014.

Which superhero film did Cars 3 knock off the top of the US box office on its opening weekend?

Wonder Woman had topped the chart for two weekends before Cars 3 opened at number one on 16 June 2017; a week later Cars 3 slipped to third behind Transformers: The Last Knight and Wonder Woman.

Roughly what was Cars 3's production budget?

$175 million was the reported budget for Cars 3; it returned about $384 million worldwide, a smaller multiple than either of the first two films managed.

Which comedian voices Ramone, the 1959 Chevrolet Impala lowrider who changes colour in every scene?

Cheech Marin voices Ramone, who runs the town's body-art shop and is married to Flo, voiced by Jenifer Lewis; Marin reprised the role in both sequels.

In the UK release of Cars, who voices Harv, Lightning McQueen's never-seen agent?

Jeremy Clarkson, then presenting Top Gear, voiced Harv in the UK release, replacing Jeremy Piven's US performance; Harv is heard only over the phone and is never seen.

Roughly how much did Cars gross worldwide, nearly four times its budget?

$462 million worldwide was the first film's take, about $244 million of it in North America, making it the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2006 worldwide.