List of Cars characters

Though much of Lightning Mcqueen's design is unique, loose design cues were taken from the Chevrolet Corvette C6 and Dodge Viper ZB I

Montgomery "Lightning" McQueen often referred to as "Lightning McQueen" is voiced by Owen Wilson in the films, Mater and the Ghostlight, the Cars video game and the last episode of Cars Toons: Tales from Radiator Springs and by Keith Ferguson in all other media. McQueen is not modeled directly after a specific make and model, although his design contains some elements inspired by the Chevrolet Corvette C6 and Dodge Viper (ZB I). His Corvette lineage is further suggested by the "retro" paint scheme he acquires in Radiator Springs, which resembles that of a Corvette C1. He owns a Racing Academy Team with Doc Hudson called the "Doc Hudson Racing Academy" (now it is known as the "Lightning McQueen Racing Academy" after Doc's sudden passing) where he trains rookie racers in the act of speed and good sportsmanship. Together with his friends, Cruz Ramirez and Tow Mater, Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy is a popular racing school in the world of Cars. Throughout his career, he hasn't suffered a race retirement, until the third film, when he crashed out in an effort to close the gap to Jackson Storm, his high tech next generation rival.

On special races, McQueen gets modified for special occasions. His most common one is his Monster Truck form who refers to as Monster McQueen and uses it for monster truck rally races against Count Spatula, The Crippler and Ginormous. As Monster McQueen, Lightning can shout lightning related threats to his monster truck opponents when he passing them or gets passed. For his visit to Santa Carberera, Lightning McQueen gets modified in his beach racing modification. Beach Racing McQueen has a red and yellow paint job with a black lightning bolt and his number 95 in yellow in a white circle on his sides. He also has chrome rims and a black spoiler on the back. He does not have his sponsor on his hood, sides or back. For his visit in Motoropolis City, McQueen get upgraded for street racing. Street Racing McQueen has a custom modification to his body with multiple air intakes on his hood and sides. His red paint job appears a little brighter and has black stripes going through the middle of his body and on the sides with his number in black with red outlines inside a white circle. He has two chrome exhaust pipes on his sides, custom street racing Lightyear tires and a drag racing wheelie bumper on his back. This form is one of Lightning's fastest upgrades. McQueen gets upgraded for Off Road Racing in Autovia. Off Road Racing McQueen has an off-road racing suspension and racing tires to tackle unstable terrain as well as two sets of rally headlights on his hood and roof. His paint job has a different shaped 95 in yellow and a white lightning bolt design on his sides. His sponsor is also printed on his hood and sides. His exhaust pipes were moved to the back with this mode. For the final race against Chick Hicks at the Radiator Springs Speedway, Lightning McQueen get modified specially for this event. Speedway McQueen is his fastest of his previous upgrades. His custom upgrade is an extremely aerodynamic design with side air intakes on his front and an extra air intake on his rooftop. He also has an orange lightning bolt sticker over his front fenders and a striking lightning bolt and his number in a combination of yellow and orange. He also has chrome racing tires and a red rear wing for downforce. His exhaust pipes are also at the back giving a high pitch stock car racing roar. It is said that Lightning's Speedway engine has 850 horsepower and a top speed of over 200 mph. He used this mode to beat Chick Hicks who was also upgraded for speed like Lightning.

Mack Super-Liner

Mack (voiced by John Ratzenberger) is a 1985 Mack Super-Liner bearing license plate "RUSTEZ3". A dedicated member of the Rust-eze Medicated Bumper Ointment Team (and now Dinoco Oil), having the role of McQueen's (and now Ramirez's) transport, Mack pulls Lightning McQueen's (and now Ramirez's) trailer to his (and now her) races. Lightning's one loyal teammate after his entire pit crew resigns in protest at the end of the season decider, he inadvertently sets up the predicament suffered by McQueen throughout the movie. The grill on him suggests a nose and his top cover (with the Rusteze logo) suggests a Lumberjack hat.

McQueen exhorts Mack to drive through the night to his tiebreaker race with Chick Hicks and The King in Los Angeles, despite federal DOT regulations which legally grant Mack ten hours daily of much-needed off-duty rest[1] alongside "all those sleeping trucks" at the last truck stop on I-40. Lightning hopes to reach the venue first and to hang out with the Dinoco team. As a result, Mack falls asleep and, distracted by the Delinquent Road Hazards (who attempt to push him off the road to the shoulder), loses Lightning. Mack arrives in Radiator Springs after Doc reveals Lightning's location and is both very relieved ("Thank the manufacturer, you're alive!") and apologetic ("I'm so sorry I lost you, boss. I'll make it up to you..."). Lightning, who is glad to see him, forgives him.

Mack acts as Lightning's pit crew for the big race (since he has none) and worriedly asks if he's alright when he spins out, just before Doc and the others show up to help. Following the race, he congratulates McQueen on his loss for helping Strip Weathers after he is taken out. During the closing credits, Mack views automotive versions of previous Pixar films (such as Toy Car Story and Monster Trucks, Inc.) at a restored 1950s drive-in cinema. Commenting on other characters played by John Ratzenberger (including Hamm the piggy truck and the Abominable Snowplow), he eagerly applauds each of them until he realizes they're all played by the same actor, then demands to know "What kind of cut-rate production is this?!".

"This one is a homage to my father... John Lasseter knew that my father drove a Mack truck and that's why he gave me this character. The truck was one of my first loves because I used to ride around with him in it from time to time."

— John Ratzenberger[2]

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski proclaimed April 21, 2006, Friday Mack Trucks-Disney/Pixar "Cars" Day[3] in Mack's honor during the 41-city "CARS Road Trip '06" promotional tour.[4]

Mack is seen in the short Mater and the Ghostlight after Lightning established his headquarters on US Route 66. In Cars 2 he appears in a pair of brief cameo appearances at the start and end, where his two lines are "Oh, his best friend greetings. They get longer every year," and "Oh, those two are perfect for each other.". He appears in Cars 3 with a much larger role compared to Cars 2. He is still working as McQueen's transport. 4 months after McQueen's accident, he is in Radiator Springs and takes McQueen, Luigi, and Guido to the Rust-eze training center. Later, he takes McQueen, Cruz, Luigi, and Guido to the Thunder Hollow demolition derby circuit and after arriving, he comes up with the idea to disguise McQueen. On their way back, he is forced to pull over when Cruz opens his hauler and decides to part ways. He accompanies McQueen to pick Cruz up again and they head to Thomasville, and then to the Florida 500.

In a deleted scene, before McQueen heads to the tiebreaker race in California, Mack heads to a truck stop, after his grill is covered by a moth blizzard, to be washed. A still impatient McQueen comes outside the trailer to chase after Mack, and that is how he was lost. In another deleted scene, albeit a dream sequence where McQueen is in radiator springs, his V8 Alcohol motor is inside a steamroller, and Mater borrows his body; Mack makes a mistake, thinking Mater is McQueen, and takes him to the race.

Lightning McQueen's pit crew are generic forklifts who only appear at the start of the film, never to be acknowledged again. They quit after McQueen said that he is a one-man show. One of them, presumably the acting crew chief is voiced by Mike Nelson. After the official crew chief had decided to quit, he is referred to by McQueen as "Chuck", and retorts angrily afterwards, "And my name is not Chuck!". In the credits, he is referred to as "Not Chuck". They appear in the film (only to leave almost immediately) to show McQueen's selfishness and inability to work with others. McQueen had a crew chief before the film, but was not seen in the film, because McQueen fired him (believing he was a one-man show, which later came back to haunt him for his return). The chief was mentioned several times at the Dinoco 400 race. The crew is later replaced by McQueen's friends from Radiator Springs and Mack for the big race. In Cars 2, McQueen has apparently hired a new pit crew as he mentions having given them all a vacation when asked to attend the World Grand Prix, but his friends from Radiator Springs again offer to become his crew for a race and he accepts. Not Chuck returns in Cars: Race-O-Rama as a playable character in the Guido Kart races (a Cars version of Mario Kart). He still has his Rust-eze paint job from the film despite quitting on Lightning's team for four years. He may have had a change of heart and rejoined his team after McQueen's good sportsmanship.

Harv is Lightning McQueen's agent. Never seen on-screen, McQueen speaks to Harv via his speaker phone when McQueen and Mack are en route to the tiebreaker race and again when Mack is in Radiator Springs to pick up McQueen. Consequently, very little is known of Harv's character except that he threatened to fire Mack if he doesn't get McQueen into his trailer.

Harv is voiced by Jeremy Piven in the U.S. version and The Grand Tour presenter Jeremy Clarkson in the UK version. He is also based on the character Ari Gold from the HBO series Entourage. Although he is not seen in the actual film, Jeremy Clarkson believes that he is a 1979 Ford Granada Ghia, while in the American version, he is thought to be a 1996 Oldsmobile.

1963 Dodge Dart (Rusty)

1967 Dodge A100 (Dusty)

The Rust-eze Brothers, Rusty and Dusty, are the spokescars and owners of Rust-eze, the team that sponsors Lightning and that gave him his "big break", but they are somewhat awkward. Rusty is a 1963 Dodge Dart and Dusty, a 1967 Dodge A100.[5] Rusty and Dusty are voiced by real-life brothers Tom and Ray Magliozzi (respectively) of National Public Radio's Car Talk, using that program's closing line "...and don't drive like my brother!". Rusty bears an intentional resemblance to Tom Magliozzi's infamous green 1963 Dart, named "The Dartre".[6] Dusty is also based on a real van owned by Ray Magliozzi.[7]

They appear three times in the first film, at the beginning with McQueen looking forward to leaving them, in the middle very briefly being interviewed and at the end after the tiebreaker race when McQueen realises he is happy with them. In a deleted scene on the DVD, much of their dialogue (heard at the sponsors' tent in the final script) was originally part of a brief stop at the Top Down Truck Stop. On the die-cast cars, Rusty's license plate states "Rust" and Dusty's sports "Eze". Their license plates are from "R Fair City", a term the Car Talk brothers use to describe their home town of Cambridge, Massachusetts. They appear four times in the third film, when they talked with McQueen about his winnings, McQueen was going to see Cal Weathers, when the Radiator Springs gang members and McQueen were talking on the phone and at the Rust-eze racing center to hand the sponsor over to Sterling.

Following Tom's death in 2014, unused archive recordings from the first film were used to provide Rusty's speaking parts in Cars 3.

The Doc Hudson Racing Academy Students (voiced by Chris Edgerley And Joe Smith) are a group of four young race cars who were taught to race from Doc Hudson and Lightning McQueen in Cars Race-O-Rama. They are all modeled as the same model, but with different modifications and blue, white, grey and black paint jobs: Student 1 has one stripe going down the center and a small spoiler, Student 2 has three stripes on each side, one white, one gray and one black, and a big black spoiler, Student 3 has white on the top and bottom and Student 4 has a decal on each side which resemble scratches. They usually race in the Race-O-Rama alongside Lightning McQueen, learning different techniques and movements for racing while Doc Hudson communicates them as crew chief. After Doc's passing, Lightning McQueen now teaches this group of students with Cruz Ramirez and Smokey helping him out. All four students are playable in Cars Race-O-Rama. Doc Student 4 does not appear in any of the races in the game. Since he is not playable on the PlayStation 2 version, he does not appear at all.

The BMW 2000 CS; the basis for the BMW CS Vintage Concept

Sterling is a billionaire and the new owner of the Rust-eze Racing Center. He reveals himself to be a fan of Lightning McQueen. He assigns Cruz Ramirez to train McQueen and prepare him for the Florida 500. After watching McQueen's poor performance on the simulator, Sterling attempted to convince McQueen to retire and become a racing brand. McQueen convinces him to give him a chance at winning the Florida 500, then McQueen could decide when to stop racing. Sterling reluctantly agrees. He is based on a BMW CS Vintage Concept

At the Florida 500, Sterling reveals himself as greedy and self-centered when he cruelly ordered Cruz to leave and resume her job as a trainer. Against Sterling's will, McQueen puts Cruz in the race. After Cruz wins, Sterling asks her to race for him, but she refuses and quits. Tex Dinoco, owner of Dinoco, purchases Rust-eze from him, allowing Cruz to race and McQueen to train her.

He is voiced by Nathan Fillion.[8]

A personal voice command assistant to Cruz Ramirez that is able to track McQueen's speed through his electronic suit. Played by British Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton.[9] The Spanish version of the voice command assistant is played by Fernando Alonso, while the German release has Sebastian Vettel.

Jaguar F-Type

Cruz Ramirez, a Hispanic female, is Lightning McQueen's trainer and technician at the Rust-eze Racing Center. She is known for training some of the best newer elite rookies through her unconventional training methods. She is assigned to train McQueen for the Florida 500. She attempts to train McQueen at Fireball Beach, but McQueen ends up teaching her how to race on sand. After surviving a Demolition Derby, which Cruz wins, McQueen lashes out on her for wasting his time and humiliating him on TV. Then, Cruz reveals that she always wanted to be a racer, but never found the confidence to do so. She is loosely based on a 2014 Jaguar F-Type

Cruz and McQueen reconcile and head to Thomasville where they meet the former crew chief of Doc Hudson, Smokey. Smokey trains McQueen and inspires Cruz as well. At the Florida 500, Cruz is sent back to the Racing Center. McQueen exits the race to allow Cruz to race. Using what she's learned on the road, Cruz catches up to Jackson Storm, who tries to overtake her. However, Cruz flips over him (the same move Doc Hudson used back in 1951) and lands in first place. She begins to race for the Dinoco team, sporting Doc's former #51, with McQueen as her mentor. In the post-credits, Cruz has won the Piston Cup with Lightning by her side.

Cruz is voiced by Cristela Alonzo.[10] She returned in Cars 3: Driven to Win as one of the main characters and a starting playable character along with Lightning McQueen, Mater, Sally, Ramone and Guido.

The Rust-eze Racing Center Trainees are a group of Next-Gen Piston Cup racers mostly painted chrome grey and have different colored spoilers, bumpers, Lightyear racing tires, and sideskirts. Each trainee is identified with a Rust-eze Racing Center logo on their sides as well as a trainee number on their sides and back. There are currently at least 12 trainees at the Rust-eze Racing Center who perform a wide variety of exercises, get tested for performance, and even race on the simulator to hopefully become Piston Cup Series racers for the Rust-eze Racing team if Lightning McQueen announces his retirement. They're named as follows:

• Aiden is a grey and orange Next-Gen SA-2 Race Car with 003 as his trainee number. He was seen a couple of times in Cars 3 on the treadmill and when he saw Lightning McQueen hanging face-down, with a drip pan underneath him, as part of Cruz's training methods, Aiden drives past him and makes a rude remark. His voice actor is currently unknown.
• Kurt is a Next-Gen model similar to Cam Spinner painted chrome and purple with 012 as his trainee number. He is one of the trainees assigned by Cruz Ramirez to become a professional Piston Cup racer for the Rust-eze Racing team. He is nicknamed the “Bug Guy” by his colleagues because Cruz would often blast him with bugs to test his reflexes. His voice actor is currently unknown and was named after NASCAR Cup series champion Kurt Busch.
• Krzysztof is a Polish grey and green Next-Gen SA-5 Race Car with 021 as his number in the Rust-eze Racing Center. He was seen on the treadmill in the center during Cars 3. He is named after technical director Krzysztof Rost.
• Sequoia is a Next-Gen trainee (possibly modeled after a Next-Gen SA-3) who is grey and red with 028 as his trainee number. He was seen inside a wind tunnel testing his aerodynamics.
• Ronald, nicknamed the “Fluffy Cloud” by himself and Cruz Ramirez, is a chrome grey and lime green Rust-eze Racing Center rookie racer who in hopes of becoming a professional racer. He is a Next-Gen SA-3 Race Car and Trainee 035. Whenever he tries to drive roughly, Cruz would remind him that he is a "fluffy cloud", and he takes this advice to help him speed up. Kurt then make a remark to Ronald telling him he is a cloud which tells him to shut up. His voice actor is currently unknown. He was mentioned by Sterling who tells Cruz to get him up to speed at the Florida 500 for the next race in Atlanta, Georgia to replace Lightning McQueen.
• Gabriel is a chrome grey and cyan Next-Gen SB-4 Race Car from Santa Cecilia, Mexico who was trained by Cruz Ramirez in hopes of becoming a professional racer. As Trainee 049, he can be easily considered as "homesick" of all the trainees. But when Cruz shows him a picture of his hometown on the treadmills, he gets really excited and shouts "¡Santa Cecilia, mi pueblo!" which means "Santa Cecilia, my town!" in Spanish. He is voiced by Carlos Alazraqui.
• Junyi is a Chinese racecar painted mainly chrome, with his bumper, spoiler, sideskirts, and rims all colored purple. His number is 057. He appears mostly in the background and has no voice actor.
• Tom W. is a grey and blue Next-Gen SA-2 Race Car with trainee number 061 and was one of few rookie racers who is assigned by Cruz Ramirez.
• Ernesto is a grey and yellow Next-Gen racer modeled like Ed Truncan with 067 as his trainee number. His voice actor is currently unknown.
• Shriram is an Indian grey and pink Next-Gen SB-4 Race Car with trainee number 070.
• Sudeep is an Indian Next-Gen SA-3 race car and trainee number 083. He is colored mainly chrome, with a gold bumper, rims, and spoiler. At the Rust-eze Racing Center, he and Jae are using virtual reality, but due to a slight issue with the virtual reality goggles keeping him in place, Sudeep accidentally bumps a tire on Jae's face.
• Jae is a South Korean grey Next-Gen racer modeled like George New-Win with his spoiler, wheel rims, and other designs painted royal blue. His number 094 is on his sides. He was seen wearing a virtual reality headset before bumping into Sudeep.

Strip Weathers, better known as The King, is a "Dinoco-blue" veteran racecar and racing legend voiced by NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty. Weathers is an anthropomorphic version of Petty's aerodynamic 1970 Plymouth Superbird, sporting same shade of blue and Petty's racecar number, 43.[11] He is one of the racecars in the 2006 Piston Cup three-way tie, along with Chick Hicks and Lightning McQueen. His sponsor (Dinoco), like Petty's (STP), is a well-known oil company.

Richard Petty's #43 Plymouth Superbird

He is Dinoco's "Golden Boy", having won seven Piston Cups[12] (the same number of NASCAR Cup Series championships Petty himself won in his career) and is hoping for his eighth in the tiebreaker race before entering retirement. He tells McQueen to remember the importance of his team, but the rookie does not pay any attention, being more preoccupied with the thought of taking over the Dinoco sponsorship after Weathers' retirement.

On the final lap of the tie-breaker race, Hicks rams into Weathers, sending him into a dangerous rollover. When McQueen sees this, he realizes that Weathers' career might end the same way Doc Hudson's did and, not wanting him to suffer the same fate, stops short of the finish line, allowing Hicks to win, and pushes Weathers across the finish line to help him finish his last race before his retirement, much to the audience's delight. Weathers (who has now been repaired) is last seen visiting the racing museum in Radiator Springs with his wife and another Piston Cup racer, "Junior", stating that Hudson was his inspiration (In NASCAR, "The King" #43 is the second of four generations of racers; his father Lee Petty won his first Cup in 1954, one year after the multiple Fabulous Hudson Hornet victories).

He returns in Cars 3 as the crew chief of his nephew and new Dinoco racer Cal Weathers with Richard Petty reprising his role as the voice of The King. He is only shown in the first race of the film, where he tells Cal nice comeback after he gets his tires for a pit stop, and when he and his nephew pass the sponsorship to Cruz Ramirez after she wins the Florida 500. His only line in the film is "Nice comeback, Cal". (In real-life, Petty's nephew Trent Owens, son of his wife Lynda's brother Randy, is a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series crew chief.)

In the Danish edition of the movie, the King is voiced by nine-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen. In the Finnish edition of the movie, The King is voiced by Finnish two-time Formula One World Champion Mika Häkkinen. In the German edition, he is voiced by Austrian three-time Formula One World Champion Niki Lauda.

Strip Weathers also appears in the film's video game as an unlockable character in the Arcade. He is mentioned by Darrell Cartrip in the game's Story Mode before the first Piston Cup race at the Palm Mile Speedway.

He also appears in Disney Infinity.

1975 Chrysler Town & Country station wagon

Lynda Weathers, also known as "Mrs. The King", (voiced by Richard Petty's wife Lynda Petty) is a 1974 Chrysler Town & Country station wagon who brought the Petty family to "The King"'s races during the 1970s. Like Tex, Lynda follows each race from a Dinoco VIP booth, rooting for her husband. Throughout the film, she is constantly shown supporting her husband and she worries deeply when he is flipped by Chick Hicks. After the race, while Chick Hicks is booed for wrecking her husband and winning the Piston Cup, she kisses Lightning on the cheek and tells him thanks for helping her husband finish his final race.

During the ending credits of Cars, Mrs. The King can be seen at the Doc Hudson Museum with her husband and Mater as a tour guide throughout the museum. She asks to see and meet Doc Hudson, but Mater is unsure of his whereabouts at the present time – but assumes he is out racing, most likely with McQueen (which turns out to be true).

Cal is a new Dinoco racer. Took over as Dinoco racer after his uncle Strip Weathers retired and became his crew chief. Cal Weathers is numbered 42, and is a blue Capital Motors Mark II Piston Cup Stock Car with blue rims. He often races with Lightning McQueen and Bobby Swift and constantly pull pranks with each other after a race. Unlike his uncle, he seemed to be one of the weak Dinoco racers and never won any Piston Cups (according to Tex as a joke when he talks to Cruz Ramirez on joining Dinoco which in reality, he won two Piston Cups in the past), though he does win some races as shown when he beats McQueen in a close finish at Rocker Arms Speedway. He later retires when new next gen racers including Jackson Storm take over the sport. He is voiced by real-life driver Kyle Petty who is Richard Petty's son.

1975 Cadillac Coupe de Ville

Tex Dinoco, voiced by Humpy Wheeler of Charlotte Motor Speedway, is the billionaire owner of Dinoco.[13] Packaged as "Tex Dinoco with bullhorns" as a diecast car, he is simply called "Tex" in the film's credits. He speaks with a Carolina accent and resembles a 1975 Cadillac Coupe de Ville[14] at The Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo. He is the King's manager and sponsor. Unlike Lightning's agent (Harv, who doesn't watch the race), Tex is an avid race fan who would never miss a race. As a supportive and long-time friend of both Lynda and "The King", he has been a loyal fan of "The King" for many years and boasts that The King "has made Dinoco proud".

After Chick Hicks wins by employing a PIT maneuver to sabotage The King in the final lap of the tiebreaker, sending King into a dangerous rollover crash, Tex (angered by Hicks' unsportsmanlike driving and having refused to sponsor him) offers the lucrative sponsorship to Lightning with the explanation that "there's a whole lot more to racing than just winning" this is an echo of a line that McQueen used at the end of the race shown at the start of the film but with an entirely different meaning. However, McQueen turns down the offer, opting to stay with Rust-Eze. Tex respects his decision, but does tell McQueen, "If there's ever anything he can do for him, just let him know." However, McQueen does ask for one favor: to allow Mater to fly in the Dinoco transport helicopter, fulfilling Mater's dream.

He returns for Cars 3 as the sponsor for Cal Weathers. After Cal retired, Tex sought to have newcomer Cruz Ramirez to race for him after watching her performance in the Florida 500. He also purchases Rust-eze from Sterling and allows Lightning McQueen to sport a new paint job (it looks just like Doc's old paint job).

The Dinoco Transport Helicopter is based on a Bell 430. Without a speaking part, he has no voice actor and is not named in the closing credits. His name is Rotor Turbosky (in apparent reference to helicopter maker Sikorsky) in the die-cast Cars toy collection. He is seen on top of the Dinoco tent during the races. Mater gets a ride over Radiator Springs at the end of the film, a favor which Lightning had promised Mater earlier when dreaming of the big trophy and the big sponsor (Dinoco) with the fancy helicopter.

Buick Grand National

Chevrolet Monte Carlo

Chick Hicks (voiced by Michael Keaton in Cars, Bob Peterson in Cars 3) serves as Lightning McQueen's primary rival in the first film.

He is a green 1979 Shyster Cremlin, "a generic Pixar design, 'a stock 1980s American car'" according to Pixar publicity coordinator Amanda Sorena,[15] and strongly resembles a GM G-body with features from both the Chevrolet Monte Carlo and the Buick Grand National. As the real-life General Motors wanted nothing to do with the character by rejecting an initial Pixar proposal to cast a Chevrolet stock car as the movie's villain, Chick is effectively an orphan.[15] He has spent his entire career trailing Strip "The King" Weathers, and is bitter about this fact. One of his most notable quotes in the movie is “Kachicka” which he uses as his version of Lightning McQueen's quote “Kachow”. His racing sponsor is Hostile Takeover Bank, or HTB.

His pit crew generally mock Guido as compared to them he is very small, however they are surprised when Guido shows off his extremely quick tire changing capabilities. Hicks' racing number is 86, a reference to 1986, the year Pixar Animation Studios was founded; 86 itself is also a slang term for destroying or getting rid of something. Since 86 is twice the number 43 (King's number), it could also be an allusion to his entire career in relation to King.

Hicks is extremely determined to win to the point that often he turns to unsportsmanlike conduct to do so. Hicks cheats his way through all of his races by ramming other cars or sideswiping them via the PIT maneuver in an attempt to cause racing incidents for his own benefit (such as the massive car pile-up in the first film). He despises and mocks McQueen, adopting the nickname Thunder which McQueen previously used as a put-down (McQueen: "Because thunder always comes after 'lightning'"). Hicks is also equally antagonistic towards The King, having come 2nd or 3rd place to The King for his entire career. While McQueen is presumed missing, Hicks tries to take away McQueen's fans and increase his fame.

During the final lap of the tiebreaker race, Hicks (refusing to come in behind Strip Weathers again) PITs The King, sending him flying off the race track and into a rollover wreck on the in-field. He expects a huge ovation after McQueen deliberately gives up the Piston Cup in order to help Weathers, but nobody cheers Hicks on once he wins because they're fed up with his dirty tricks and unsportsmanlike conduct. Shortly afterwards, as Hicks gets on stage to claim his trophy and celebrate his victory, an angered crowd and media snub Hicks' victory by branding him a cheater. He is then pelted with discarded tires and booed off the stage with his trophy in humiliation. The immediate backlash is similar to backlash against Rusty Wallace after he spun out Darrell Waltrip in Turn 4 during Segment 3, Lap 9 of the Sprint All-Star Race V at Charlotte Motor Speedway, sending Waltrip spinning into the grass.

In the film, a lucrative corporate sponsorship is at stake. Hicks and McQueen both share the dream of being the new face of Dinoco Oil, a firm long represented by retiring champion #43 "The King". They race on the assumption that winning the championship cup will land them the big sponsor, however, Dinoco owner Tex offers the sponsorship to McQueen (as he had refused to sponsor Chick for his bad sportsmanship and for what he did to The King), stating that there's more to racing than winning.

He returns in Cars 3, being voiced by Bob Peterson since Keaton was unable to reprise the role due to schedule conflicts with Spider-Man: Homecoming in this film he now hosts his own talk show, Chick's Picks on Racing Sports Network and replaces his HTB sponsor stickers with the RSN ones after his company went bankrupt. He constantly boasts about his previous Piston Cup championship and cracks jokes at McQueen's expense as Jackson Storm takes over the sport. He also interviews him after he wins one of the races in Hartland Motor Speedway.

Chick returns in the Cars video game, which is written by Pixar and considered a continuation to the story started in the movie. In the game, he is less rude than he was in the movie. He is first seen spying on Lightning's practice sessions with Doc Hudson. In Palm Mile Speedway, he ineffectively taunts Lightning before the first race of the season until Doc warns him off, then falls in with a gang of New York-based greaser cars in Carburetor County to challenge McQueen. Before the next Piston Cup race in Smasherville Stadium, the DRH gang jumps Mack on the interstate to steal McQueen's racing gear, but finger Chick as the one who hired them when caught by the Sheriff which he later confronted him there at the track with Chick refusing to believe.

After Lightning won the race, Darrell Cartrip prepares to interview both Lightning and Chick only to see them during a heated argument. Darrell soon stopped this saying Lightning did won the race (with the tapes to prove it). Lightning McQueen soon challenged Chick Hicks to a three series Radiator Springs Grand Prix race in Radiator Springs, Tailfin Pass and Ornament Valley with the RSN filming the race before the last Piston Cup race in LA Speedway which he accepts before encouraging his fans on the TV camera to see him win the Piston Cup trophy for real this time, but only loses to McQueen afterwards.

In the Cars Race-O-Rama video game, he seeks revenge by attempting to close down McQueen's racing academy to start his own in Radiator Springs, he also gets himself modified in the final Race-O-Rama race after seeing Lightning McQueen modified from Santa Carberera, Autopia, Motoropolis and later Radiator Springs. After his modification upgrade, he refers to himself as a high performance and custom racer whose gonna take McQueen down. Most of his Piston Cup sponsor stickers were removed and he gains a "Motor-Co" sticker for Chick's modifications and keeps his sponsor and his number 86 on his body.

He also gains a black spoiler for downforce and his top part of his engine was exposed. Like his friends, Chick Hicks has a smokescreen unit equipped attempting to slow down McQueen but he gets defeated at the end, vowing for his revenge on McQueen. But his friends, Candice, Stinger and El Machismo turned against Chick and apologized to McQueen about their previous behavior which he accepted their apology and invited them to Lightning and Doc's Academy anytime who greatly accept. His catchphrase is "Ka-Chick-Ah!", a blatant rip-off of McQueen's catchphrase "KA-CHOW!".

Despite the fact he did not appear in Cars 2, he does show up in the film's video game as a downloadable character for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 editions. He also appears in Disney Infinity. He also appears in Cars 3: Driven to Win which he does post race interviews with Mater, Smokey, Natalie Certain and Miss Fritter as well as giving out racing news praising for the other racers winning performance/making comments about their losing performance, making jokes about Lightning McQueen's losing or insulting him for winning (again), or show off Chick's winning performance or make excuses about his losing streak. He is also a playable character after defeating him and 99 clones of him in the master level event, Chick Hicks Takedown at Thomasville's Midnight Run. He also created the "Lightning Storm Cruise", a head to head race for Lightning McQueen, Jackson Storm and Cruz Ramirez at the Florida International Speedway which Chick's Picks with Chick Hicks and the RSN will be broadcasting. After the race, he said that Lightning wasn't done with racing yet and thinks he could have won it faster, and Lightning, Chick and Cruz watch Jackson Storm race against Miss Fritter in Thunder Hollow thinking that he can beat anyone anywhere.

He also tries to sabotage Lightning McQueen's racing simulator and shut down Lightning's Academy and start the Chick Hicks Racing Academy (CHRA for short) while racing head to head at Chick's race track, the Chick Hicks Motor Speedway at the Lightning McQueen Racing Academy at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World, Orlando.

In the Rioplatense Spanish version of Cars, Hicks is voiced by Marcos di Palma, a racecar driver also known for his brash attitude.

In the Ukrainian dub of Cars, Hicks is voiced by Komu Vnyz frontman Andrei Sereda.

Besides him, there is a similar character named Ripslinger in the 2013 Cars spin-off movie Planes and its 2014 sequel, produced by DisneyToon Studios.

Chick's pit crew are a group of forklifts who do pit stops for Chick Hicks in his races. Like Chick, his pit team are green with black "moustache" grills on their faces and have Hostile Takeover Bank on their sides. One of them is a playable character in Cars Race-O-Rama's Guido Kart races.

The Chick Hicks Racing Academy students (voiced by Mark Silverman and Josh Robert Thomson) are a group of race cars who learn to race from Chick Hicks. These cars may look similar to the Doc Hudson Racing Academy students but Chick's students learn how to race dirty like Chick did in the past. Each car is painted green with white, grey and black decals and different modifications. The first one has a white line across the top of his body. The second has white, gray and black diagonal lines across the sides. The third has white on the bottom and top of his body. The fourth has a gray shape that seems to resemble a scratch on the sides. All four of these cars are playable in Cars Race-O-Rama except for the PS2 version where you only play as one. Unlike Candice, El Machismo and Stinger, they do not apologize to McQueen for their previous behavior.

Vehicle Identification Numbers, or VINs for short (voiced and performed by MacinTalk), are white robotic Piston Cup stock cars with grey rims and the black bar codes on their sides. They are actually Chick Hicks Racing Academy students, who are fed up with losing to Lightning McQueen, who went inside a Motor Co. factory in Autopia where the Motor Co. pitties stripped them down and transformed them into these super techno equipped race cars. They speak primarily in robotic phrases like "The numbers compute." Unlike Candice, El Machismo and Stinger, they do not betray Chick Hicks for their aggressiveness (mostly it's because of their programming). In their concept art, VINs were supposed to be modeled just like Chick and have the number 128 on the sides, top and right headlight to go with their bar codes. But their modeled as a Lux Motor Co. Piston Cup V8 who looked similar to Mac iCar in the Cars film and Joltsen and the other non playable Piston Cup cars from Cars the Video Game.

Jackson Storm

Jackson Storm, an arrogant blue-and-black 2017 custom built "next generation" Piston Cup racer, is one of the newer rookies that comes into the racing sport, and the main racing rival of Lightning McQueen in the third installment in the franchise. He set records and won many races, including the final race in Los Angeles and presumably achieved the goal of winning the Piston Cup in his rookie year, which McQueen almost did in the first film. Whenever someone intimidates him, he goes back to insult them and make them lose their focus so he can take back the lead. His racing number is 20 (styled as 2.0) and is sponsored by Ignitr Liquid Adrenaline. His pit crew includes Rey Reverham, three pitties and his hauler, Gale Beaufort. Because of Jackson Storm's record breaking performance and a top speed of 214 mph (344 km/h), Piston Cup sponsors either retired or fired their previous veteran racers in the favor of Next-Gen racers to even the competition against Storm.

At the Florida 500, he is overtaken by McQueen's former trainer Cruz Ramirez. He attempts to make her lose focus by telling her that she doesn't belong on a track. Cruz, however, regains her confidence and drives up next to Storm, who rammed her into a wall but Cruz flips over him and lands, in exactly the same fashion as Doc Hudson was shown to do in an earlier scene. Since then, he has been hated rivals with Cruz in races.

He returns in Cars 3: Driven to Win. He allows his rivals, Lightning McQueen and Cruz Ramirez time to get prepared to race for the next Piston Cup season (even though Cruz replies she beat Storm once and can do it again) as Chick Hicks created the "Lightning Storm Cruise" a head to head race featuring Lightning McQueen, Jackson Storm and Cruz Ramirez at the Florida International Speedway. After he lost the race to McQueen, Storm was fed up for losing and was determined he could beat Lightning and anyone, anywhere and anytime. As a result, Lightning and Cruz invite him over to race in Thunder Hollow only to end up being chased by Miss Fritter with Chick Hicks recording it for the RSN.

Jackson Storm is voiced by Armie Hammer.[16] In the game, he is voiced by AJ Hamilton. He is based on the Peugeot Onyx Concept. He also has some elements of the Nissan GT-R Concept 2020 Vision Gran Turismo and has working laser headlights and taillights (he keeps them off in Piston Cup races). His word Lightyear on his racing tires are blue.

Ray Reverham is a pickup truck and Jackson Storm's crew chief. He is always supportive of Storm's performance, and when Cruz attempts to win, he reminds Jackson at any opportunity he can much to Storm's annoyance and tries to ignore Ray's warnings unless he's that serious. He is voiced by the real-life Ray Evernham.

Gale Beaufort is Jackson Storm's hauler and painted in the same livery as him. Like Storm, she has working laser headlights and taillights. She is a Next-Gen Semi Hauler. Gale Beaufort represents the pinnacle of next-gen transporters. Whenever she isn't on the road, she's buffing and shining her glossy black paint. Jackson Storm wouldn't have it any other way, as he only wants the best for his racing team. In Cars 3, she is seen after Storm wins his first race at Arizona's Cooper Canyon Speedway who rolls into his trailer, saying he touched a nerve before blasting his hip hop music from the speakers and closed it, allowing Gale to drive away. She currently has no voice actor.

Chevrolet Task Force

Mater is a rusty tow truck, resembling a 1955 Chevrolet Task Force. He is McQueen's best friend, and Holley Shiftwell's boyfriend. He is voiced by Larry the Cable Guy. Since his heroic actions and exposing Miles Axlerod in London, Mater is now known as "Sir Tow Mater".

Sally Carrera is the town's attorney and McQueen's girlfriend. She is voiced by Bonnie Hunt, and she is a 2002 Porsche 996 Carrera.

Sally as Eddie Paul custom vehicle for Cars promotional tour

1951 Hudson Hornet similar to Doc Hudson

Doc Hudson is the town's medical doctor, judge, and Lightning McQueen's mentor/crew chief, voiced by actor Paul Newman in the first film and its video game and Corey Burton in all other related media. He is based on the 1951 Hudson Hornet. He did not appear in the second film, as it is implied that Doc died, and Newman died in September 2008 from lung cancer. He appeared in Cars 3 in McQueen's flashbacks with audio archives used by Newman in the past.

He won three consecutive Piston Cups in 1951, 1952 and 1953 as a racer known as The Fabulous Hudson Hornet, and still holds the most wins in a single racing season with Smokey as his crew chief, corresponding to the first three of the real-life Hornet's production years.

1949 Mercury Eight coupe

The Sheriff (voiced by Route 66 historian and author Michael Wallis) is a 1949 Mercury Eight Police Cruiser police car,[17] bearing Carburetor County license plate 001. Sheriff is painted in the classic law enforcement black and white with a single red light dome, two sirens, and curb feelers. Sheriff was the first resident of Radiator Springs to appear in the original film and the first to meet Lightning McQueen during a police chase when McQueen was speeding through the town, attempting to locate Mack. Upon catching McQueen, who had become ensnared in wires and fencing, Sheriff paraphrases a line used by actor Joe Higgins, who played a sheriff in early 1970s Dodge commercials, as "Boy, you're in a heap of trouble.".[18]

Sheriff was known to distrust McQueen; at one point when Sally gives McQueen some gasoline, Sheriff notices McQueen smiling at the road as if he is planning to escape. In reply Sheriff with a glare turns on his gumball in case. Lightning chooses to accompany Sally, rather than making an escape attempt, resulting in Sheriff switching off his emergency lighting. This marks the beginning of trust in Lightning by Sheriff. He later befriends Lightning McQueen, offering him a police escort to California and even giving a few sniffles when he thought Lightning had left after finishing fixing the road (though he denied it, claiming he was glad Lightning was gone), and joins his pit crew for the championship race. In the end credits, Sheriff arrests the Road Hazards (the same ones who separated McQueen from Mack) caught racing illegally (via speeding) to Radiator Springs and have them impounded. As punishment for their crimes, he and Doc force them to repave the roads with Bessie.

Sheriff reappears in Cars 2, seeing Lightning and his race crew off to the World Grand Prix. When Mater goes missing, Ramone mentions that Sheriff has Scotland Yard scouring London for Mater. During the climax of the film, Sheriff arrives with the other Radiator Springs residents as new members of McQueen's pit crew in England, and is informed by Mater of the Lemons cars' plot to kill McQueen in order to turn all vehicles in the world against alternate energy and rely on gasoline for profit. Sheriff then has Red the Firetruck squirt water on the Lemon cars during the final battle, and arrests most of the defeated ones with help from Sarge. Then the next day Sheriff cheers Mater on when he is knighted for foiling the evil plot led by surprisingly, the race and Allinol inventor Sir Miles Axlerod.

Fiat 500

Luigi (voiced by Tony Shalhoub, Michael Shalhoub in Disney Infinity) is a 1959 Fiat 500.[19] He is a Scuderia Ferrari fan (as he is part of the tifosi), and has followed racing his entire life. His license plate reads 445–108, which is the latitude and longitude for the main Ferrari factory in Maranello, Italy.[20] Luigi owns a tire shop, Casa Della Tires,[21] which is known for its "Leaning Tower of Tires", a tower of several tires shaped like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. His assistant is an Italian forklift truck named Guido.

Inside his shop are many framed pictures of World Sportscar Championship endurance racing Ferraris from various points in history. At first, Luigi and Guido do not respect Lightning McQueen when he comes to Radiator Springs (owing to the substantial havoc that he inflicted upon the town when he first arrived), because he is not a Ferrari ("Luigi follow only the Ferraris"), but later on they learn to show courtesy to McQueen, fitting him with whitewall tires, since Luigi is a fan of white tires (having a pair himself). During the final race, Luigi and Guido work as part of Lightning's pit crew, and Guido sets the Piston Cup record in changing tires, taking only 4 seconds to change all the tires, sending the other pit crew into shock. He later congratulates McQueen when he helps The King finish his last race. After the race, a group of Italian sports cars – a Ferrari F430 (voiced by Michael Schumacher) and two Maserati Quattroportes – arrive at his shop, explaining that "Lightning McQueen told me this was the best place in the world to get tires" and requesting "three or four sets each". The presence of a celebrity Ferrari in their store causes both Luigi and Guido to faint from shock and happiness.

For the Italian version of the film, Luigi was voiced by comedian Marco Della Noce; one of Della Noce's most popular characters was "Oriano Ferrari", a parody character meant to represent the leader of Ferrari's pit stop crew.[22]

In Cars 2, Luigi is a part of Lightning's pit crew, in charge of the racer's tires. In Japan, he is naturally overjoyed to see so many Ferraris at a party prior to the first race of the World Grand Prix. He also hesitantly begins to explain to Mater what a rendezvous is, but he and Guido do not believe Mater when he believes he has a date ("Guido don't believe you!" "Guido still don't believe you!") Luigi and Guido are overjoyed to be back in their home of Italy, and rejoin their large group of family and friends. A little more is discussed of Luigi's past with Guido: Luigi's Uncle Topolino mentions that Luigi and Guido often fought when they worked for him (over things like which Ferrari was the best, and which one of them looked more like a Ferrari, etc.) but they always made up after their fights. Luigi joins his friends in a mêlée against Professor Zündapp's Lemons at the film's climax, and finally believes Mater's claims of a girlfriend when Holley Shiftwell confirms the fact in person at Radiator Springs.

Guido (voiced by Guido Quaroni) is a forklift truck, who works at Luigi's Casa Della Tires, and is Luigi's best friend. Like Luigi, he is also part of the tifosi, as he is also a Scuderia Ferrari fan. The only language Guido can speak and understand fluently is Italian, though he appears to understand English, and even speaks a few phrases, including "Pit stop" but pronounced "Peet stop!". His dream is to perform a pit stop for a real racecar. Near the end of the first movie, as a member of Lightning's new pit crew, he performs the fastest pit stop in Piston Cup history, speed-changing all four tires in only 4 seconds, shocking Chick Hicks' pit crew who had earlier made fun of him, and causing their moustaches/grills to fall off in the process.

In order to preserve the "language barrier" gags between Guido and the other characters in the Italian dub, his lines (and the other cars' lines in Italian) have been rendered with the Emiliano-Romagnolo accent spoken in the town of Modena, Italy, home of the Ferrari car manufacturer and racing team. Alex Zanardi, an Italian race driver who is a native of Bologna, the largest city in the Emilia-Romagna region (and thus presumably familiar with that dialect), voiced Guido for the Italian version. Coincidentally, or as a pun by the authors, the name "Guido" is a perfect homonym for the Italian inflected verb meaning "I drive".

In Cars 2, Guido serves the same purpose he served in the first film's climax in Lightning's pit crew throughout the film. He also removed all tires from some of the Lemons when the malicious cars surrounded Lightning and Mater, but is unable to remove the bomb from Mater's nose (engine). Guido does not believe Mater when he says he has a date ("Non ci credo"), but has a jaw-dropping moment when he sees that Mater was telling the truth about his new girlfriend Holley Shiftwell (Guido believe you now! - Luigi).

1959 Chevrolet Impala coupe

Ramone (voiced by Cheech Marin) is a 1959 Chevrolet Impala coupé[23] Lowrider that owns the Ramone's House of Body Art store, where he paints himself and other cars, including Lightning McQueen later in the film. His garage employs the distinctive architecture of the Tower Station (U-Drop Inn) in Shamrock, Texas. His license plate reads "L0WNSL0", which is a reference to his catchphrase, "Low and slow". He is married to Flo, whose restaurant is next door to his store. Ramone is usually depicted as purple with a yellow and orange flame job, but throughout the film, he changes his paint job every morning (green, yellow, red in the first film, blue in Mater and the Ghostlight) to keep his skills sharp, owing to a lack of customers. This situation changes after Radiator Springs becomes vibrant again. He also likes to drive slow and very low on the road, and is overjoyed when the road is asphalted, enjoying the smoothness of the road. However, he does seem to have a childish side in his personality, as in a scene after Lightning McQueen has destroyed the town's main road, Sally asked Flo what she had in her store, the latter responding "I have gas, lots of gas!", and Ramone and Mater burst out laughing.

In a deleted scene that told the story of how Ramone and Flo fell in love, the only customer Ramone has refused to paint was his future wife Flo. When she asked him, "Whassamatta, you too good to paint me?", he promptly and smoothly replies, "No baby, you too good for me to paint," and saying that he could not touch a classic like Flo, which made her heart melt. The story took place in Radiator Springs in 1974. This part was shown in the info on Ramone in Cars Mater-National Championship.

Ramone reappears in Cars 2, making a few appearances in the Radiator Springs scenes, though he joins everyone else to help McQueen in England. In the melee scene, Ramone disables one of the lemon cars by spray painting into the car's eyes, blinding him.

In the movie Planes, when Dusty cuts off the radio's power when El Chupacabra was singing the song "Love Machine", he says Ramone's catchphrase "Low and slow" which causes Chupacabra to sing a romance version of the song.

Flo (based on Fran Hauser of Adrian's Midpoint Café and voiced by Jenifer Lewis) is the owner of Radiator Springs only gas diner, "Flo's V-8 Café", and is married to Ramone, the town's body artist. Her license plate reads "SHOGRL", the same as the license plates applied to many Motorama show cars and an abbreviation of the term "showgirl". During the cruising scene, "Motorama 1957" appears above her license plate. According to a deleted scene, she is a Motorama showcar who came to Radiator Springs during a national tour (although there wasn't a Motorama show held in 1957). Ramone custom painted her crew all except her. She asks "What's the matter, you too good to paint me?", and Ramone said "No baby, you're too good for me to paint.". They immediately fell in love. She appears to be inspired by two early- to mid-1950s show cars: the 1951 Buick XP-300 (side trim), and the 1956/57 Chrysler Dart concept car (cockpit, deck lid, and tailfins).[24]

Flo reappears in Cars 2 to help Lightning and Mater battle the Lemons (who were sent to kill Lightning by Miles Axlerod). Later, she and Sally are seen swooning over Francesco.

Waldmire's van in Route 66 Hall of Fame

Fillmore (based on Route 66 artist Bob Waldmire[25] — not acknowledged in the film's credits — and voiced by George Carlin in Cars, the Cars video game, Mater and the Ghostlight, and Cars Toons (via archives), Brian George in Cars Mater-National Championship, Mark Silverman in Cars Race-O-Rama and Lloyd Sherr in Cars 2, the second Cars video game and Cars 3) is a Volkswagen Type 2 microbus of late 1950s/early 1960s vintage[26] as evidenced by his pointed front turn signals and small rear window. Fillmore's license plate reads "51237", an easter egg which is a reference to May 12, 1937, the birthdate of George Carlin, and is also the ZIP code of George, Iowa.[27]

He is a stereotypical hippie,[28] as he has stickers of the peace sign and flowers with his license plate positioned to resemble a soul patch. His name is a reference to the Fillmore East, a venue that was an epicenter for rock performances throughout the 1960s and 1970s (The Allman Brothers, The Grateful Dead, and Jimi Hendrix all made notable live recordings there, to name a few). He owns an organic fuel shop (Fillmore's Organic Fuel) which features several flavors, and believes gasoline companies are lying to the public. He is implied to smoke marijuana,[29] as it is indirectly referenced when he speaks of his organic fuel use.[30] In the morning, when next-door neighbor Sarge plays Reveille and raises the Flag of the United States, Fillmore interrupts Sarge's bugle reveille with Jimi Hendrix's rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner". This is much to Sarge's irritation, as he yells at Fillmore:

Sarge: "Will you turn that disrespectful junk off?!"

Fillmore: "Respect the classics, man! It's Hendrix!"

Despite this, he is friends with Sarge, and the two can be seen chatting throughout the film.

He has a sticker on his rear that says "I brake for Jackalopes". The jackalope is a mythical creature which features in the theatrical short Boundin', shown with The Incredibles. Another sticker says "Save 2D Animation". He has appeared in every Disney Cars game so far. As voiced by George Carlin, Fillmore's voice is similar to "Al Sleet, the hippy-dippy weatherman", a part of Carlin's comedy routine in the 1970s.

Fillmore reappears in Cars 2, joining McQueen's pit crew as the fuel expert for the World Grand Prix. Fillmore was re-cast due to George Carlin's death, and was voiced by Lloyd Sherr. Fillmore initially supports Allinol as it supposedly does not use oil, even convincing McQueen it is safe after several accidents involving other cars using Allinol. However, for the final race, Sarge replaces McQueen's Allinol with Fillmore's organic fuel, which is what prevents Lightning from being killed in the race. He appears in Cars 3, once again a member of Lightning's pit crew as his fueler with Luigi and Guido handling McQueen's tires.

Fillmore was originally going to be named Waldmire, after a Route 66 resident, but Waldmire, a vegan, didn't want his name to be used, because Fillmore toys would be featured in Happy Meals at McDonald's.

Willys MB Jeep

Sarge (voiced by Paul Dooley) is a 1941 Willys Jeep. A veteran with a military green paint job and a slightly stylized Sergeant Major (E-9) insignia on his sides, he appears to be a World War II era Willys MB. His license plate reads "41WW2", which indicates the date the Willys MB entered the service of the U.S. Army (1941 World War II). He runs a surplus store, named "Sarge's Surplus Hut", next door to Fillmore and acts as part of Lightning's pit crew, gassing him up during the race. Near the end of the film, he operates a boot camp to train SUVs and 4×4s (some of whom had never been off-road) in rugged and dirt terrain. His recruits include T.J. Hummer, Murphy, Frank "Pinky" Pinkerton, and Charlie Cargo. During the Cars Video Game, Sarge trains McQueen in his boot camp as well by having some formal off-road racing training who McQueen passed in flying colors.

Sarge reappears in Cars 2, using assistance from the British Army to aid in the melee against the Lemons. Prior to the final leg of the World Grand Prix, he secretly switches McQueen's supply of Allinol (the alternative fuel developed by race founder Sir Miles Axlerod) for Fillmore's organic fuel blend. Like Fillmore he became suspicious of the fuel after the incidents in Japan and Italy. The change saves McQueen from being killed as part of Axlerod's plot to discredit alternative fuels.

1919 Model T Coupe

Lizzie (voiced by Katherine Helmond), a 1923 Ford Model T Coupe,[31] is the widow of Radiator Springs' founder, Stanley, and the elderly owner of a roadside souvenir and accessory shop (Radiator Springs Curios, which uses the "HERE IT IS" slogan and signage of the Jack Rabbit Trading Post on US 66). Her license plate, "MT23", is a reference to her model and year. Her name is derived from Tin Lizzie, one of the Model T's popular nicknames. She appears to have gone somewhat senile, and has a crush on Lightning McQueen. When she is shown teasing Luigi and Guido in the film, stating "The new road makes your place look like a dump.", Luigi angrily says that she is a crazy, devilish old woman but despairs at the truth of her words and sets to work repainting the Casa della Tires garage to its original appearance. She appears extremely motherly.

Lizzie reappears in Cars 2 with a minor role. In the beginning she greets Lightning when he returns, but didn't even know he was gone all this time. She isn't present at the airport but is seen in the end talking to Mack about how crazy Holley Shiftwell is for keeping a dent. She also appears in Cars 3, which would be Helmond's final role before her death.

She appears in the Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales episode "Time Travel Mater", where her and Stanley's backstories are revealed.

Lizzie was originally going to be named Henry F. Ord, after Henry Ford. She also, at one point, originally resembled a Ford Model T "Center Door" Sedan.

American LaFrance 900 Series

Red (voiced by Joe Ranft and later Jerome Ranft) is a 1960s closed-cab American La France 900 Series, bearing Carburetor County license plate "002". He is shy and emotional which explains why he cries and drives away at the same time. He spends most of his time gardening and washing things, such as the statue of Stanley in front of his fire station. It was stated by Mater that Red "hated" Lightning McQueen, because he accidentally killed his flowers. Later, it is clear that Red had forgiven Lightning McQueen and warmed up to him, especially when he burst into tears and fled when he mistakenly thought that Lightning McQueen left without saying goodbye. While he gasped and sobbed in the film, he didn't really talk. In the first film, he seems to know about tractor-tipping as he used his horn to try and stop a stampede of tractors out of trying to protect his flowers. He formerly dislikes Lightning McQueen and he also dislikes crying and feeling upset and people vandalizing his flowers.

Red reappears in Cars 2 as a non-speaking character. He only makes a small appearance at the airport crying as he sees Team McQueen taking off for Tokyo, also in the battle against the Lemons, where he arrives just in time to blast some of the Lemons away with his fire hose.

Red appears in the Tales from Radiator Springs short film: Bugged. He was voiced by Jerome Ranft, who voiced Gamma in Up.

Stanley steam car

Stanley (voiced by John Michael Higgins) is Lizzie's late husband who was the founder of Radiator Springs.[31] Stanley was probably based on and named after a Stanley Steamer, a steam-powered automobile. Lizzie, reminiscing, describes him as having been "an awfully persistent li'l bugger for a two-cylinder". A statue of Stanley stands outside the town hall, and although it was broken off its pedestal and dragged through the streets on a wire by Lightning McQueen, it was fortunately undamaged, and another mishap placed the statue right back where it was. Although dead, Stanley continues to exert an influence on the town, particularly over Lizzie, who often talks to his statue in memory of him.

Stanley's statue reappears in Cars 2 where he was shown to be less old and broken, possibly renovated.

In the Cars Toon, Time Travel Mater, Stanley appears alive for the first time. In the Cars Land theme park, signage commemorating "The Original Radiator Spring" claims that "On this site in the summer of 1909 Stanley, exploring out west, overheated as his radiator water boiled away. Coasting into the shade, he happened upon a life-saving natural spring. Upon this most fortunate discovery, Stanley founded the first settlement in Ornament Valley, and in honor of the oasis, christened it Radiator Springs.".[32] Stanley's Oasis is listed as the first local business in Radiator Springs, although condensers only appeared on Stanley steam cars beginning in 1915. The revised Timeline of the toon shows Lightning and Mater travelling back to 1909, meeting Stanley, and pointing Lizzie out to Stanley, prompting him to approach her to make a sale. A quick stop on their way back to the present allows Lightning and Mater to witness Stanley and Lizzie's wedding.

Stanley makes a silent cameo in the Pixar short, Boundin'.

Bessie is a non-anthropomorphic tarmac-laying machine that is used to fix roads in Radiator Springs.[33] She was often used by one of the citizens of Radiator Springs, referenced as "Big Al", before the citizen in question left fifteen years ago. When Lightning McQueen accidentally destroys the road by dragging the statue of Stanley, Radiator Springs traffic court judge Doc Hudson sentences him to fix the road with her. While Doc insists "this here is Bessie, finest road-paving machine ever built", a construction trade publication's August 2006 editorial describes her as a "tar-spewing hybrid paver/compactor" and "an ecological disaster" as sometimes Bessie boils over and splats tar onto the car(s) pulling her.

"If she doesn’t hit you with a stray spray of hot asphalt burbling in two tanks heated by open flames, the fumes emanating from every orifice would prompt an asthma attack. Aggregate jostles loose in a top hopper, and her black-smoke-extruding exhaust pipes are coated with the remains of decades of paving seasons... In fact, everything is wrong about Bessie except the product she produces when Lightning finally decides to get serious about his civic duty."

— Equipment World[34]

During the epilogue, the Delinquent Road Hazards have to fix a road in Radiator Springs with her as punishment for speeding. Bessie is a non-living vehicle; she cannot move by herself and she has no voice actress in the film.

Frank (voiced by Frank Welker) is a generic red combine harvester that resembles a bull, and the guardian of the tractors (which "moo" as cows). After Lightning McQueen's first encounter with Frank during a night of tractor tipping with Mater, Lightning starts dreaming that he, The King, and Chick Hicks (the last of whom does not survive, getting chopped up while The King and McQueen move out of the way) are beaten by Frank in the tie-breaker race. Frank wins the Piston Cup and gets kissed while Lightning is surrounded by the tractors who are licking him. Later, the tractors end up stampeding into Radiator Springs following a mishap with them on Mater's part. He is last seen with the tractors at the drive-in theatre scenes behind the fence far behind Mack, watching the movie as well. He is also seen in the short Mater and the Ghostlight when Mater races past him, waking him up, but does not chase him. Frank seems to be the soothing and kind master of the tractors and the leader of the herd and also hates trespassers (especially Mater) who step into his farm and bother the tractors. The tractors also appear in Planes and are shown to be sacred in India (India's residents believing they will be reincarnated as tractors).

A flashback in the original film devotes a little over a minute to show Radiator Springs in a pre-freeway era when all cross-country traffic would by necessity pass through the town's busy main street. Various old cars appear very briefly in this segment with no names and no dialogue, only to vanish when the town is bypassed.

Miles "Meattruck" Malone was a red-cab delivery truck serving the Ornament Valley region; Dustin Mellows, a yellow delivery truck, bore the logo and initials TS for Trophy Sparkplugs.[35] Local cars included Mildred Bylane (a light-brown car leaving Luigi's), Percy Hanbrakes (a brown car towed to Flo's by Mater), Edwin Kranks (a two-tone apple-green car), Hank "Halloween" Murphy (a two-tone orange "Rumbler" with tail fins, named as a parody of the Nash/AMC Rambler) and Milton Calypeer (a blue car on Route 66 at the town limits).

In Radiator Springs and the surrounding desert area of Carburetor County, insects are depicted as small, winged VW Bugs (or beetles). The bugs appear at least three times in the original film, hovering around fluorescent lighting at Flo's V8 Café on Lightning's initial arrival, swarming around the windows and the one missing fuel pump at the Wheel Well Motel before its historic restoration, and in the desert where Minny and Van are still quite clearly lost at the end of the film, after the closing credits. (One bumps on the camera lens, leaving a mark on it, and flies off eventually) One also appears in Mater and the Ghostlight, which Mater had confused for the Ghostlight (despite the yellow headlights). The bugs are alive but do not speak (Vroomaroundus Bugus merely buzz with sped-up sounds of an air-cooled VW engine[36]) so they are not named individually and they have no voice actors.

Bob Cutlass is an announcer for the Piston Cup races and friend of Darrell Cartrip. He is voiced by Bob Costas, the NBC sportscaster and journalist and his name, like Darrell Cartrip's, is a play on that of his voice actor. The character's name is a reference to the Oldsmobile Cutlass. However, Cutlass does not resemble any real life model in particular, instead having generic modern coupe design cues. He did not return for the video game nor Cars 2 nor the video game for Cars 2. However, he did return for Cars 3.[37] He did not return for Cars 3: Driven To Win.

Natalie Certain, a red sedan, is an RSN statistical analyst in Cars 3 who also is a friend to Chick Hicks. She returns for Cars 3: Driven To Win. She is voiced by Kerry Washington. She slightly resembles a Tesla Model S

Dexter Hoover (a pickup truck atop the flagstand) waves the green flag to start the race, the checkered flag to finish the race and the yellow flag when Piston Cup officials call a caution. He resembles a 1995 Ford F-Series. Charlie Checker is the official pace car at each race of the Piston Cup Series. He resembles a 1997 Pontiac Grand Prix[38] Like the Checker taxi cab, he is bright yellow. Race Official Tom, a Piston Cup official,[39] reviews videotape in the replay booth for the photo finish in the first race. Tow is a tow truck who removes injured contestants from the track, dragging a disabled but stubborn Chuck Armstrong away from the Dinoco 400 after a collision.

Marlon "Clutches" McKay, security team leader at the Motor Speedway of the South, is a former armored troop carrier.[40] Richard Clayton Kensington (a large Piston Cup security van voiced by John Cygan) chases paparazzi from the replay booth, yelling "Hey! No cameras! Get outta here!" Marco Axelbender, a Piston Cup security guard at the Los Angeles International Speedway, refuses to admit Fred to Pit Row without a garage pass.

Brian (voiced by Bob Scott), a pickup truck briefly spotted selling souvenirs at the Motor Speedway of the South, shouts "Get your antenna balls here!"[41] Todd, a Pizza Planet truck, is shown in Cars, Cars 2 and Cars 3. At the end of the first movie, he is seen at the last race. At the end of the second movie, he is seen in Radiator Springs.

The Alphanumeros are a group of cars in tight formation, driving at the beginning of the tiebreaker race in position to spell "PISTON CUP" with each letter formed from multiple, matching moving vehicles. Barney Stormin, a small propeller-driven skywriting biplane, writes "PISTON CUP" only to have it obliterated by Marco's formation of three twin-engine jet fighters.

The Lightyear Blimp (a parody of the Goodyear blimp), is named "Al Oft". His only line is "Oh yeah! Whoo!" when he realizes that the race ended in a tie.

Kori Turbowitz (voiced by DJ Sarah Clark of KLLC's San Francisco Bay Area weekday morning Sarah and Vinny Show[42]) is a 1997 Ford Puma. A news reporter who makes three appearances in Cars, Turbowitz is shown interviewing McQueen on-camera immediately before his original pit crew resigns en masse, is the first to report Lightning McQueen missing, and later obtains a tip from Doc Hudson revealing McQueen's location in Radiator Springs.

Chuki is a small, light pink hatchback with a Japanese nationality, living in Tokyo. Chuki has a very small appearance in Cars as she is shown as one of the news reporters who appear in the multi-clip footage of various TV news channels reporting McQueen's sudden disappearance while being transported to the Los Angeles International Speedway for his tie-breaker final of the Piston Cup. In Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales episode "Tokyo Mater", Chuki is seen presenting a news broadcast on one of the large TVs installed in Tokyo. In Cars 2, she is seen in the neon advertisement glowboards in Tokyo.

Chuki is based on hatchbacks designed according to Japan's Kei car specifications and is voiced by Sonoko Konishi, a senior Pixar animator who was also part of the animation team that won Ratatouille (another Pixar film) an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.[43] Konishi is credited in the Cars 2 cast for voicing the Japanese toilet assistant that appears in the computerized automated car toilets in Tokyo.

Jay Limo, like his voice actor Jay Leno, is the talk show host of The Jay Limo Show, which includes the same famous "brightly-hued skyscrapers" city-landscape in the background. He resembles the latest generation of the Lincoln Town Car, with an extended front bumper to emulate Leno's famous big chin. He remarks "I don't know what's going to be harder to find; Lightning McQueen or a crew chief who'll work with him!"

Chuck Manifold (voiced by Teddy Newton), a blue and somewhat-boxy 1980s-style car, is an anchor for Racing Sports Network (RSN) who appears briefly at the end of the last of multiple media reports of McQueen's disappearance with the one line "They are all asking the same question: Where is McQueen?"

Dan Sclarkenberg (voiced by Dan Scanlon), a green car and one of two "braking news" desk anchors on MPH 55 NEWS, is one of the announcers of the "McQueen Missing" segments.

A pair of helicopters with searchlights (as the first of a large group of reporters in Radiator Springs) are not listed in the film's credits but identified elsewhere in the franchise. The red Kathy Copter (voiced by Kathy Coates) only shouts "We have found McQueen!" twice while the white/yellow Ron Hover does not have a speaking part.

Other press cars (not identified in the film's credits) are Houser Boon (a yellow camera car voiced by Michael Bell exclaiming "Show us the bolt!"),[44] Tim Rimmer (a grey tabloid news photo car voiced by Bob Bergen booing Chick Hicks #86 when the Piston Cup is awarded), Hooman (a small brown camera car in Radiator Springs voiced by Hooman Khalili), Dash Boardman (a green camera car at the race), Andrea (a magenta-red reporter car voiced by Colette Whitaker holding a microphone) and Skip Ricter (a brown car who appears outside Los Angeles International Speedway as an announcer voiced by Craig Good; a play on former real-life NASCAR executive Les Richter).

Video coverage of the race itself is handled by Racing Sports Network personnel Artie (one of a pair of video control operators and a light-blue car who exclaims "Bob! Darrell! The Hudson Hornet's back!") and Nelson Blindspot (a light-green SUV, one of multiple Piston Cup video camera operators). Both names reference real-life staff who work with Waltrip on NASCAR on FOX broadcasts, Artie Kempner (director) and Nelson Crozier (spotter).

She interviews racers after they win and not being afraid to ask questions. Inspired and voiced by Shannon Spake.

1992 Mazda MX-5

Mia (voiced by Lindsey Collins) and Tia (voiced by Elissa Knight) are identical twin 1992 Mazda MX-5 ("Miata") sisters who are Lightning McQueen's self-proclaimed biggest fans in the first film.[45] In Lightning McQueen's daydream about the Dinoco Sponsorship, the twins are Dinoco blue, except for the scene in the penthouse, where they are painted gold. After McQueen's disappearance, the twins are devastated that McQueen apparently will not make it to the race. Chick Hicks then swoops in and consoles them, loading them up with his own merchandise and a free Hostile Takeover Bank-sponsored green paint job. Mia and Tia accept the offer, not because they are Chick's fans, but because green complements their eyes. They soon return to being McQueen's fans, turning against Hicks after he deliberately causes Strip "The King" Weathers to wreck in the tie-breaker race.

Mia and Tia eventually move to Radiator Springs and are visible briefly as waitresses at Flo's V8 Café during the end credits. Their characters are based on sisters Mary Lou and Christina Mendez at the Midpoint Café in Adrian, Texas, where the café's (now semi-retired) owner Fran Houser is the basis for "Flo".[46]

They also appear in the video game of Cars where they challenge Sally to a race to determine who gets a date with Lightning Mcqueen.

In a deleted scene on the Cars DVD, the twins were fans who distract Lightning during a brief stop at the Top Down Truck Stop, a venue with "all convertible waitresses", causing Mack to inadvertently leave without him. The implicit reference to toplessness is largely removed from the final script, which has Mack driving straight through and separates the characters on I-40. Mia and Tia appear in every episode of Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales except Time Travel Mater and make a cameo appearance near the end of Cars 2 as spectators at the new Radiator Springs Grand Prix.

They don't appear in Cars 3 for unknown reasons, as they were replaced by a little red car named Maddy McGear.

Albert Hinkey (voiced by A.J. Riebli) is an RV who proclaims himself as Lightning's "biggest" fan ("biggest" being a pun because he is such a large vehicle).[47] He is seen in the background of races. He is first seen shouting encouraging words to McQueen as he makes it through the big wreck Chick Hicks caused. He is later seen in the tie-breaker race, cheering for McQueen and is shocked when he notices Doc Hudson. When McQueen chooses to forfeit the win and help Strip Weathers finish his last race, he is shown sobbing when he sees what happens. He is later seen in Cars 3, where shouts encouraging words to McQueen once again. His topside is decorated with rows of Lightning/Rust-eze flags. Hinkey also has a loud horn, which he uses while saying "Ka-Chow!" (McQueen's catchphrase) and the loud noise is a nuisance to fellow spectators. The character is an obvious reference to John Hinckley Jr., the stalker and attempted assassin of President Ronald Reagan who attempted such crimes to profess his love for actress Jodi Foster as her biggest fan.

His friend Larry Camper, voiced by Larry Benton, exclaims "Dip me in axle grease and call me Slick! It's the Hudson Hornet!" when Lightning's Radiator Springs pit team arrives for the tiebreaker race. This is a joke on the old Harold Lloyd punch line, "step right up and call me speedy!," which originated (mostly) in his hit silent film called The Freshman Lloyd also made another film called Speedy, which may or may not have been a reference, as it was made three years after The Freshman.

Fred (voiced by Andrew Stanton) is a starstruck, very rusty old car resembling a Lada 2107. Everybody knows his name because his license plate holder and license plate read "Hello, my name is" and "FRED", respectively. He is the prop for the recurring gag in the film; when McQueen says his name, he shouts "He knows my name!" twice and, in his excitement, his front bumper (which happens to be his lower jaw) falls off. Later, when he is unable to gain access to the tie-breaker race and Mario Andretti (who would be waved through the gate on sight as a celebrity) likewise reads his license plate, Fred says, "Mario Andretti knows my name! You gotta let me in now!" He is seen in Radiator Springs at the end of the film with bumper stickers for the last three towns (Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino) in Route 66 (song); when he stops, his front bumper falls off again. He also shows up in Mater National and Race-O-Rama.

Fred is one of the many rusty old cars at the Rust-eze sponsor tent for McQueen's personal appearance; others (listed in the "Car Finder" game but not named in the movie's credits) include Jonathan Wrenchworths (the rusted green car in Rust-eze advertisements) and Donna Pits (a rusted 1970s car standing beside Fred).

A group of five transport lorries watch the race at a truck stop; two are identified in the "Car Finder" game as Gil (a green Peterbilt) and Paul Valdez (an orange transport with a white stripe and 'PV' on his cap).

A group of RV's watching the tiebreaker at the speedway include Barry Diesel (a thirsty RV with a blue Dinoco visor cap, sipping two kegs of Dinoco Light), Bud (a white RV with a jackalope painted on his back), Clayton Gentlebreeze (a white RV with green stripes) and Syd VanDerKamper (a camper van).

The "more than two hundred thousand cars" watching the tiebreaker race include Coriander Widetrack (a small purple car holding a model aeroplane), Marty Brakeburst (a grey runabout wearing a Piston Cup antenna ball), Mathew "True Blue" McCrew (a blue car behind a fence with "the King" flag on his antenna), Milo (a boxy green car beside McCrew), Polly Puddlejumper (a small blue car with a blue "the King" crown on her antenna), Swift Alternetter (a green SUV surrounded by RV's), Timothy Twostroke (a dark-red car displaying the #95 lightning bolt on his visor and antenna) and Wilmar Flattz (a small light-purple car with "lightning" on his antenna and "95" on his visor).

Maddy McGear (voiced by Madeleine McGraw) is Lightning McQueen's biggest fan in Cars 3.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s #8 Budweiser Chevrolet Monte Carlo during a pit stop at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2006

Dale Earnhardt Jr., often referred to as "Junior" or "Dale Jr." is a Gen 4 Chevrolet SS stock cars that the NASCAR Cup Series used prior to 2007. He is voiced by the race car driver of the same name, and closely resembles the #8 Budweiser Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS that he drove from his Sprint Cup debut in 1999 until his departure to the team his maternal grandfather Robert Gee, Sr. started, Hendrick Motorsports, in 2008. The car's Budweiser stickers are replaced by Dale Earnhardt Inc. stickers; these stickers refer to the same change made in NASCAR games as well as toys in order to avoid alcohol advertising. Junior is seen during the first race (Dinoco 400) and is involved in the wreck caused by Chick Hicks. When McQueen goes missing, Junior tells the Competition Racing Sports Network "I sure hope that Lightning is okay. I would hate to see anything bad happen to him!". At the tie-breaker, Junior wishes The King good luck in his last race, as "you've been an inspiration to me". Junior is last seen at the Radiator Springs racing museum with The King and his wife Lynda, amazed by Doc Hudson's many season winnings during the 1950s. Junior does not appear in the video game nor the third film, due to his sponsor not returning in both, likely because it has gone out of business. (The real-life Earnhardt Jr., his sister Kelley Miller, and their uncles Robert Gee, Jr. and Jimmy Gee, currently operate a second-tier NASCAR team.) A replica of the red livery, with the Hendrick #88 on a Gen 6 Holden Commodore with Hendrick's current Axalta Coating Systems sponsor decals, was used for Earnhardt's final race as a full-time Cup driver in 2017.

Mario Andretti voices his eponymous character, who is a former racecar that believes every day is a great day for racing. He is based on the 1967 Holman Moody Ford Fairlane that Andretti drove to victory lane in the 1967 Daytona 500. In the Spanish edition of the movie, Andretti is voiced by Spanish Formula One champion Fernando Alonso.

A small green car seen beside Andretti at the entrance to pit lane is identified in the "Car Finder" game as Patty, Mario's personal assistant. She does not have a speaking role in the film.

The actual Ford Fairlane that Andretti drove was rebuilt as a Mercury Cyclone by Robert Gee (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s maternal grandfather), driven in 1971 by German F1 and sportscar driver Rolf Stommelen for his only NASCAR start at Talladega Superspeedway, then sold to Darrell Waltrip for use his five races in 1972 and the first half of the 1973 season. It later became a Sportsman racer for Waltrip, but was crashed in 1975 at the Permatex 300 Sportsman race (now Xfinity Series race). Abandoned by Gee, it stayed there until a few NASCAR mechanics restored the car in its 1972 configuration as a 1971 Mercury Cyclone (brown #95) in the mid-1990s for a celebration of the 25th anniversary of Waltrip's first Cup start. It is displayed at Waltrip's museum in Harrisburg, North Carolina, and part of an Andretti exhibit at the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 2013. (A replica of the car as it looked in 1966 was also part of it.)[48]

Ferrari F430

Michael Schumacher is a 2004 Ferrari F430 sports car voiced by Schumacher himself. He is a Ferrari in reference to five of his seven Formula One championships which were achieved with Ferrari F1. He appears at Luigi's shop at the end of the movie after being told by Lightning McQueen that "this is the best place in the world to buy tires", and asks to order a few sets of tires for himself and a pair of Maserati Quattroportes who accompany him. After Luigi faints from the excitement of having "a real Michael Schumacher Ferrari in his store", Schumacher speaks to Guido in Italian, and Guido subsequently faints. The Italian phrase he speaks is, "I hope that your friend recovers, I was told that you are fantastic." Because of licensing issues, in the Cars toyline, his name is called Ferrari F430 instead of his name himself.

Waltrip's 1978 Chevrolet Monte Carlo

Darrell Cartrip, a 1977 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, is a Piston Cup announcer in the first and the third film. A former Piston Cup racer, his character is based on his voice actor, 1989 Daytona 500 winner and Fox NASCAR commentator Darrell Waltrip. An enthusiastic Cartrip uses Waltrip's catchphrase "Boogity boogity boogity! Let's go racing, boys!".[49]

Cartrip appears in the Cars video game as a solo announcer; he is a playable character in the Piston Cup VS. and Arcade mode. He returns in the second film as a World Grand Prix announcer.

A real-life 1977 Monte Carlo was driven by Waltrip with DiGard Motorsports, finishing a very close second-place finish (11 points behind Richard Petty) for the 1979 championship Cup.[50] Waltrip raced from midway through the 1975 season until the 1980 season driving for the team. The real-life car's original number (DiGard's #88) and green-and-white Gatorade livery do not appear on the character (the livery's design is now owned by PepsiCo). The film's credits list Darrell Waltrip Motorsports (his licensing arm) as the "#17 Car" (known for his Hendrick Motorsports and own efforts in winning three of NASCAR's four majors); Waltrip's various NASCAR entries have included a #17 (three times—two of those he owned, the other belonging to Hendrick Motorsports) and a #95 (the one he drove in his 1972 debut was at one time the real-life former Mario Andretti #11 from 1967 seen in the Cars franchise, is one such).

The most famous of the real-life 1977 DiGard Monte Carlos was the infamous "Bertha", displayed at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Talladega, known for a weight-reduction scheme (devised by Gary Nelson and Buddy Parrott) where up to 100 pounds (45 kg) of buckshot is dropped on-track on parade laps to lighten the car. A subsequent NASCAR rule change to weigh cars after the race now prevents this type of ruse. Bertha won 19 NASCAR premiership races in its career, including the 1978 Coca-Cola 600, Waltrip's first major. [51]

He is the main announcer for the Piston Cup races, along with Bob Cutlass; announcer in Cars and Cars 3; he is voiced by Darrell Waltrip.

Saturn Relay (Van)

Dodge Grand Caravan (Minny)

Van (voiced by Richard Kind) and Minny (voiced by Edie McClurg) are husband and wife. In the first film, they are lost and pass through Radiator Springs while trying to find their way back to Interstate 40. Van refuses to ask directions, claiming not to need them due to having a GPS. Minny mentions that Van did the same when they were heading up to the "Crazy Days" (a parody of Derby Days[73]) in Shakopee. U.S. Route 66, taken off the map in 1985, is conspicuously absent from stored maps in automotive aftermarket GPS units — an omission also noted by Harv, Lightning's agent, and a minor running joke in the film.

Both are equipped with car alarms, which they arm after their encounter with Lightning McQueen when he begs them to call for help (they dismissed his plea as madness). After the final credits, Van and Minny are shown dirty and lost somewhere in the desert, having never asked for directions, with Van almost driven to insanity. Their names combine as a pun on "minivan". Van loosely resembles a 2004 Saturn Relay and Minny appears to be a 1996 Dodge Caravan. Minny speaks with a pronounced Minnesota accent.

Van and Minny reappear near the end of the second film. While Minny is mesmerized by Mater's spy story, Van does not believe one word of it until British agent Holley Shiftwell arrives to confirm it, which surprises Van, leaving him mesmerized by her and annoying Minny. In the final scene, when a rocket-propelled Mater rushes past Van, maps that Van was carrying are sent flying.

The Delinquent Road Hazards are a group of four modified tuner cars that intentionally cause trouble on the highway: Boost (Purple Neon/Carbon fibre covered Nissan Silvia S15), DJ (Blue 2004 Scion xB), Wingo (Green and purple 1997 Mitsubishi Eclipse) and Snot Rod (Orange 1971 Dodge Challenger RT). Their group name possibly comes from a derogatory term used by Sherrif when referring to McQueen when he ordered Mater to tow the racecar to traffic court. They catch Mack nodding off to sleep on the way to California and amuse themselves by nudging him onto the rumble strips along the shoulder. The resulting vibration causes Mack's trailer door to open and a sleeping McQueen to roll out of the trailer. When the chronically sniffly Snot Rod sneezes, Mack is startled awake, and accelerates away, leaving the still-sleeping McQueen behind near Radiator Springs. During the end credits, the Hazards are caught speeding on the outskirts of Radiator Springs by the Sheriff, who gives chase and places them in the impound lot. Like McQueen before them, Doc and the Sheriff have them sentenced to messy roadwork towing Bessie.

In the Italian dub, three of the Hazards are voiced by F1 drivers: Giancarlo Fisichella (Boost), Emanuele Pirro (Wingo) and Jarno Trulli (DJ). Boost, DJ and Wingo make a cameo appearance at the start of Tokyo Mater, drifting along the main road of Radiator Springs and shouting insults at the residents before Sheriff gives chase to them (though here, he refers to them as "import punks"). D.J. was voiced by his inspirational actor, E.J. Holowicki. Wingo, Boost and Snot Rod were voiced by Adrian Ochoa, Jonas Rivera and Pixar actor Lou Romano. Snot Rod made a cameo in an non-anthropomorphic state on a calendar in Toy Story 3 inside of Andy's room.

• 
  Nissan Silvia S15 (Boost)
• 
  1997 Mitsubishi Eclipse (Wingo)
• 
  Scion XB (DJ)
• 
  Dodge Challenger RT (Snot Rod)

Tracy Jefferson “TJ” Hummer (voiced by Jan Rabson) is a vain Hummer H1 that Sarge teaches in his boot camp during the end of the movie. Unlike the other SUVs in the boot camp, TJ refuses to go off-road, fearing that he will get dirt on his rims, but Sarge forces him to do so. His name may be a play on the action character T.J. Hooker. The other three boot camp recruits (none of which have speaking parts) are Frank "Pinky" Pinkerton (a pink SUV), Stephen Murphy (an orange SUV) and Charlie Cargo.

Sven "The Governator" (voiced by Jess Harnell) is a Hummer. His only line is "Lightning McQueen must be found at all costs!" The name and vehicle is a parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger's then-current position as California governor, the first three Terminator films he starred on, and the fact that he was one of the first Hummer H1 owners, though he isn't voiced by Schwarzenegger himself.

Jerry (voiced by Joe Ranft) is a 1979 Peterbilt 352 that Lightning McQueen mistook for Mack. He has the words "Recycled Batteries" on his side. His only line in the movie is a response to McQueen: "Mack?! I ain't no Mack, I'm a Peterbilt for dang sake! Turn on your lights, you moron!" The deleted scene on the DVD has the words "Jerry's Junk" and his only line is shortened saying: "Turn on your lights, you moron!"

Various cars and trucks in non-speaking roles are named in the "Car Finder" game but have only silent cameos in the film.

Bertha Butterswagon, a small green runabout, watches Mack admiring his own reflection in a metal tanker truck. Leroy Traffik, a minivan with a mattress on his roof and a temporary spare as his right-rear wheel, passes a tired Mack just before the truck stop. He is seen with new tires from Luigi's during the film's epilogue.

Ben Crankleshaft, Chet Boxkaar and Oliver Lightload are sleeping trucks at the Top Down Truck Stop.

Duff Wrecks is a white pickup truck briefly seen one lane away from the Delinquent Road Hazard gang on I-40.

Fletcher (voiced by Corey Burton), and Gerald (voiced by Steve Purcell) are two British race cars who often race against Lightning McQueen in road races around Radiator Springs in Cars The Video Game. Fletcher is a green 1954 Jaguar XK120SE with the number 3 in red inside a white circle. He is very kind to his friends and colleagues and sometimes be a little bit of a show off in races. Fletcher's colleague Gerald is a dark purple Jaguar XK-E with the number 4 inside a white circle on his doors. Gerald is sometimes a bit shy and rarely talks since he allows Fletcher doing the talking but he did have a speaking role in North Desert Dash where they saw El Guapo bragging about his gold details. They both returned in Cars Mater-National.

El Guapo (voiced by Alex Reymundo) and Papo (voiced by Rafael Sigler) are Mexican race cars who visit Radiator Springs to race against Lightning McQueen in road races around Radiator Springs in Cars: The Video Game. El Guapo is a light green 1975 Ford Crown Victoria with chrome decals and sections of gold painted on his rims, bumpers, grille, and rear-view mirrors. He has the license plate reading "GUAPO" in white instead of brown. El Guapo tends to be a show off mostly because of his bragging of his gold details because he can't take first place if he doesn't look the part. He can have a rivally against Fletcher and Gerald on some occasions but his does appear friendly. Papo is El Guapo's friend who is a purple 1947 Chevrolet Coupe with blue "flame" designs on his hood and doors. Papo is a car with few words and many talents. He has hydraulics and can only speak Spanish. Due to his shape, some fans have mistaken him for Doc Hudson when he appears in race tracks. But he is very different from Doc Hudson.

The Queens Gang are a group of four racing muscle cars from Queens, New York who were unquestionably hired by Chick Hicks to race his rival, Lightning McQueen in Radiator Springs: Vince (Red and white double striped 1971 Pontiac Firebird with number 9), Sonny (Pinkish-grey 1971 Plymouth GTX 440+6 with number 0), Barry (Orange and blue 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner with number 8 in a blade spade), and Lenny (Light blue and white striped 1969 Chevrolet Camaro with number 66). The four racers challenged Lightning McQueen to a race in Cars the Video Game around Ornament Valley to prove that McQueen is the best race car around and trained him for the rest of the Piston Cup season. The gang continues their races against Lightning until they revealed that Chick Hicks was allied with the group who tries to help slow McQueen down. All of the cars returned in Cars Mater-National and their gang symbols made a camo appearance in Cars Race-O-Rama.

Vince is a rather arrogant and confident race car who leads his gang members, Sonny, Barry and Lenny. Sonny is a tough and fast race car with his spoiler giving great downforce. Barry, even though supportive with his group, appears to be more spineless than them, and most of his dialogue revolves around him attempting to impress Vince. But, most of the time gets bumped every single time. Lenny is a strong silent type of the gang. His dialogue consists solely of phrases like "good!" and "not good!", spoken in a rough, low-pitch voice. Vince is voiced by Jerry DeCapua. Sonny is voiced by Quinton Flynn. Barry is voiced by Rob Izenberg. And Lenny is voiced by Greg Baldwin.

Mater's Cousins (voiced by Bill Farmer and James Patrick Stuart) are six Rustbucket demolition derby race cars who visited Rustbucket Stadium to see Mater and race him in the "Rustbucket Race-O-Rama". Their names are Tommy Joe, Buford, Cletus, Zeke, Judd and Lewis. Each of these Rustbucket race cars have different body style, different paint job and different personalities:

• Tommy Joe, or TJ for short as seen on his license plate, is painted cream with the number 83 on his sides and number boards. He once greeted Mater's friend, Lightning McQueen by giving him a "hood bump" which it's one of Tommy Joe's form of greetings. He is shown to have more nerve than the other cousins, as he does not react to when Mater says to "act natural" in Cars: Mater-National Championship after witnessing Emma, a rallycross champ from England who joins for the festival.
• Buford is painted blue with the number 20 on his sides and number boards (He has the number 7 in his diecast and other media). Despite his appearance, Buford is actually a talented demolition derby racer. His license plate is completely blank, although there appears to be a stain on it, which means it could have previously read "Buford".
• Cletus is painted green with the number 6 on his sides with a faded orange circle and number boards. Cletus' dialogue suggests that he is the oldest of Mater's cousins, as he sometimes refers to himself as "old-timer" and tells his opponents to "mind their elders" when he is passed.
• Judd is painted gold with the number 5 in blue on his sides and number boards. Though one of the brightest colored racers, he is a dirty demolition derby race car that can often be found competing aggressively in races. He is also one of the faster cars in the Rustbucket Stadium.
• Zeke is painted white with a faded blue line at the center and the number 75 on his sides in blue and number boards. He is usually one of the fastest cars (or just the fastest car) in the Rustbucket races often finishes on the podium. While Zeke's dialogue seems to suggest he is less intelligent than the others, little else is known about him.
• Lewis is painted grey with the number 81 on his sides and number boards in white. He is usually fast but sometimes he gets distracted and sometimes appears slower than normal.

All of Mater's Cousins appear in all of the Rustbucket races in the first four Cars video games often racing against Mater and sometimes Lightning McQueen and Emma.

Giovanni (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui) is a red 2008 Ferrari F430 heavily tuned for racing with black lining around his doors and windows, and with the Ferrari logo on his hood. He has chrome rims and his license plate reads "G10V4NNI". He is Lightning McQueen's biggest racing fan who inspired him to be a racer himself while watching Lightning's races in his home country of Italy. He appears as one of the main characters in Mater-National and a playable character. When he first arrived in Radiator Springs, he was impressed with Luigi and Guido who are dressed up in Italian colors and didn't notice Lightning McQueen (because he's red like him) until he makes it clear that his is Lightning McQueen. Giovanni reveals to McQueen who is a big fan of him and can't wait to race against him until Lightning decides to have a team rally race which he agrees to race. Luigi and Guido, jealous of McQueen joined his team instead of Lightning's team. He later reappears in the Radiator Springs Speedway (Back then, it was called the Radiator Springs Stadium) with his good friend, Lightning McQueen. Even though he's a friendly racer off the track, he shows the competition no mercy when they are out on the race track. After the Mater-National ended, Giovanni invited Lightning McQueen and his friends to continue the festival in the European Circuit one day which Lightning agrees.

Otto von Fassenbottom (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) is a silver touring car from Germany with the stripes of the German flag over the back of his body, Lightyear single lug-nut racing tires, built in cruise control system and the number 8 on his hood and front doors. He is heavily modified for the LM GTE Pro class in the 24 Hours of Le Cars (a cars version to the real life 24 Hours of Le Mans). He is an endurance racing champion who likes to sign autographs for his fans and has a girlfriend named Jenny who likes to cruise fast on the Autobahn. He appears in Cars: Mater-National as a playable character. When Otto first arrived in Radiator Springs, he was caught speeding by Sheriff who told Lightning McQueen that he was going 120 mph, way surpassing the town's speed limit which was 25 mph which Otto replies he's a race car and doesn't slow down and goes from 0–90 km/h in 2 seconds. But McQueen told Sheriff to let him go and challenged Otto to a three lap race which he accepts (even though he replied that three laps was like a Sunday Drive). After their race, Otto wanted to race Lightning some more which he replied to see the town and go to Lizzie's Curio Shop to buy some souvenirs for his girlfriend, Jenny which he thanks him, only to get himself covered in stickers afterwards. Otto appears in all of the Stadium races in Story Mode and arcade unless you are racing as him.

Emma (voiced by Jennifer Hale) is a friendly white and pink rally car from England with a sticker reading "Series 13" on her hood and sides. She has chrome rims and pink mirrors. Her model is most likely a 2008 Volkswagen Scirocco, heavily tuned for rallies. Her license plate is P33LIN. She is a playable character in Cars: Mater-National. Emma is a famous rally car in her home country of England, popular for her personality and amazing racing abilities. During her appearance in Cars Mater-National, she competes with Mater and his cousins at the Rustbucket Stadium. After meeting Mater for the first time, the two became fast friends and began to develop a relationship. She returned in Cars Race-O-Rama in the PSP and Nintendo DS versions only.

Gudmund (voiced by Scott Wood) (pronounced as good-mund) is a Swedish rally car who appears in Cars Mater-National and the third international competitor to greet Lightning McQueen (after Giovanni and Otto) and a playable character. He is a VAZ 2107 rally car painted yellow and blue with four rally headlights on his roof to help him see better in dark tunnels. On his roof, he has a vertical blue stripe, as well as a sticker that reads "Rallye Moto Car" (a reference to "Rallye Monte Carlo", along with the number 46. He also has a sticker on his left side that reads "Service" and "46" (his right side features "Service" written in Swedish). He has the word “TURBO” inscribed in yellow on his side skirts and his license plate saying “SWEEDEE” at the back. His biggest fear is the haunted hook. During his visit in Radiator Springs, he was racing out of the Rustbucket Caverns and introduced himself to Lightning McQueen and his friend, Sarge. He challenges them to a race in the dark tunnel. Lightning says that he cannot race because back then, he had no headlights and that he is scared of crashing, but then Sarge gives him his night vision goggles, so now they can race in the dark tunnel. He races in the race, then in the end-scene, he tells about a story about a monster called the Haunted Hook which was a rugged wild beast constructed out of rusty metal with a razor sharp hook behind him. Then Lightning tries to introduce him to Mater. But Mater thinks Gudmund is the Ghostlight due to his bright headlights while Gudmund thinks Mater is the Haunted Hook, so they run away from each other, much to the concern of McQueen.

Koji (voiced by Masi Oka) is a Japanese drift racing car and the fourth international competitor to greet Lightning McQueen in Cars: Mater-National. He only speaks Japanese, but can understand some English to what Lightning McQueen said. Koji is painted red with white designs towards his rear, a carbon fiber hood, black spoiler and the word "Kojimoto" painted on both of his doors in white. He is modeled after a Nissan 350Z drift car and a playable character in Mater-National. During his visit in Radiator Springs, he was seen in first place during a race with Otto flashing by in second. Behind them were Sonny and Vince who thought they were in the wrong race, leaving Lightning McQueen curious saying there's a new guy in town. He challenged Lightning to a canyon race around Tailfin Pass. Once the race is complete, Lightning and Koji are having a friendly discussion when Mater comes speeding at them, drifting a turn and hits a bump, where he goes flying across the bridge, and miraculously lands on his tires. The two are amazed at Mater's stunt, which Mater claims that he meant to do.

• Count Spatula (voiced by Steve Purcell), is a tough monster truck racer painted grey, and has several modifications, including two engine blocks (one in his hood and one mounted midship in his flatbed) and 12 pipes (six on each side) that release fire. He has large tires and two horns that are similar to Sulley's. He often shouts food related threats to his opponents, including flattening them like a pancake. Count Spatula might also be a reference to Count Dracula because of his razor sharp fangs for his teeth making him almost like a vampire.
• The Crippler (voiced by E.J. Holowicki), is a white hospital monster truck who resembles an ambulance with six tailpipes, an air horn and a siren on his roof. On his doors, he has a "cushion" design and the words "THE CRIPPLER". He also has a black grille, headlights and hydraulics that connect his chassis to his giant tires. He often shouts medical related threats to his opponents.
• Ginormous (voiced by Joel McCrary) is a monster truck that is painted gray, with a darker shade of gray towards his rear. He has two sets of three exhaust pipes, one on each side of his doors, as well as a gray bumper, a chrome grille and silver "W" spokes on his tires. He doesn't talk much and instead intimidates his opponents by growling and roaring at them.

All three monster trucks appeared in the first Cars video games who visit Radiator Springs to challenge Lightning McQueen in monster truck rally races in Radiator Springs, including the ones in Rustbucket Stadium which bring thousands of fans throughout Carburetor County. Spatula also races in select road races in Cars the Video Game as well as Monster McQueen. Since the depute of Monster Mater and Sulley from Mater-National, Spatula is no longer a playable character but he does appear as a computer opponent in all of the monster truck races along with his friends Ginormous and The Crippler.

Philip (voiced by Joe Smith), spelled as Phillip in concept art, is a red and tan 1937 Cord 812 Cabriolet and an English tourist. He appears in Cars: Maternational in a cutscene for Radiator Springs Circuit where he almost crashes into Lightning McQueen who was driving in the opposite side of Main Street. After narrowly avoided each other, Lightning asked the traveler why was he driving on the wrong side of the road, which he replied his name is Philip and was still new to America since he is from England who usually drives on the left side of the road as composed to United States regulation say they must drive on the right side. Philip soon quickly realized that he was talking to Lightning McQueen who overreacted in joy and was pleased to meet Doc Hudson, aka the Fabulous Hudson Hornet even after he scolded him for blocking the road. Lightning wanted to give Philip driving lessons so he can get the hang of driving on the right side of the road which his mistook as having a private racing lesson with Fred overreactly volunteers to join. Barry, a member of Vince's group asked the group if there was a race starting which Philip says yes, and against Lightning McQueen and the Fabulous Hudson Hornet (Doc Hudson). At first a little hesitant, but agreed to a three lap race around Radiator Springs. He later reappeared as an opponent in Inside the Turkey and Canyon Run as well as being a fifth opponent in Doc & the Law's race and chase mini game. In the story "Banged Up" in the "World of Cars" book, Doc spotted Philip damaged on the side of the road which he repaired him at his clinic. Philip soon drove away thanking him.

Yuri (voiced by Mark Ivanir) is a dark green Russian rally car who strongly resembles a Lada 1200 with the front of a Volga M24-10 and the proportion of a Moskwich 412. His license plate reads "YURIKAA" which combines his name and Eureka. He speaks in a Russian accent. In Cars Mater-National despite having no appearance in a cutscene, he appears as an opponent in Team Relay 1 with Giovanni and Luigi, Inside the Turkey, Canyan Run and Team Relay 3 with Fletcher and Gerald.

Candice (voiced by Tara Strong) is a pink coupe (although different headlights) who lives in Santa Carburera, California and was one of Chick Hicks's protégées in Cars Race-O-Rama before betraying and quitting on him. Her license plate reads “SO HOT”. She has a very spoiled, presumed and selfish attitude almost like a spoiled teenager. After losing to Lightning McQueen in her home town, she gets so upset about losing, that she calls her daddy in her trailer to say that she wants new tires, paint and everything NOW! Her daddy agrees with this and Candice drove off for some shopping. After seeing Lightning beat a modified Chick in the Race-O-Rama finals in Radiator Springs Speedway, she apologized to him along with her friends, Stinger and El Machismo for their previous behavior. She can also translate Stinger's expressions (who only communicates by revving his engine). Lightning accepted her apology and invites her to his racing academy anytime. Candice thanks him and blows him a kiss.

El Machismo (voiced by Randy Savage) is a dark blue and orange off-road racing truck whose a celebrity in Autopia and was one of Chick Hicks's protégées in Cars Race-O-Rama before quitting on him. Like Chick, he was sponsored by Hostile Takeover Bank with his number 13 on his sides. He also has Nitroade and ReVolting sponsor stickers on his sides. His catch phrase is “I'm bigger than big, badder than bad, I am El Machismo!” (A spin-off of McQueen's catchphrase, "I'm faster than fast, quicker than quick, I am Lightning!") After losing to Lightning McQueen in his town, he gets so angry, he blames Chick and Motor Co. for making him lose and asks for bigger tires, bigger shocks, bigger fenders, bigger everything to crush the competition (which Chick Hicks admits he's not that much of a sole loser unlike him). After seeing Lightning beat a modified Chick in the Race-O-Rama finals in Radiator Springs Speedway, he apologized to him along with his friends, Candice and Stinger for their previous behavior. He says to Lightning that he's better than bad, faster than fast which he meant he likes how he races. Lightning accepted his apology and invites him over to his racing academy anytime who greatly accepts.

Stinger is an orange 2009 Dodge Challenger muscle car from Motoropolis City with a carbon fiber black hood, a racing spoiler and a Treadwell County license plate that reads "STINGER". He was one of Chick Hicks's friends in Cars Race-O-Rama before betraying him. He doesn't talk much. He usually communicates by revving his HEMI V8 engine which Ramone regarded him as the strong silent type. After seeing Stinger lost to McQueen, Chick gets mad at him and calls him a steel brain of a worthless bucket of bolts. This made Stinger very angry and rev his engine furiously. But when Chick asked what he had to say for himself, Stinger just drove away. After seeing Lightning beat a modified Chick in the Race-O-Rama finals in Radiator Springs Speedway, he apologized to him along with his friends, Candice and El Machismo for their previous behavior and for being mean to him earlier. Lightning accepted his apology and invites him over to his racing academy anytime. Stinger revs his engine as a thank you to McQueen and agrees of joining him.

Bubba (voiced by Lloyd Sherr) is an orange mean tow truck who originally lived in Radiator Springs and is Mater's hated rival. Some cars are born bad, and Bubba is part of the lot. Not very intelligent, he collects defects. For him, every day is a demolition company which he is the prime contractor. Its small size does not matter: it has enough for everyone in malignancy receive him. Bubba once reunited with Mater after several years apart who challenges Mater to race in Rustbucket Stadium for the towing rights to Radiator Springs with his friends Tater and Tater Jr. He has a bully attitude and he's not a very good loser, as he loses the towing racing series to Mater. He says he will come back for revenge on Mater and get rid of him if it's the last thing he does. Bubba first appeared in the story "Hoodwinked" when he found and took Mater's hood (after he accidentally rips it off while show off his fish moves to Buford, Cletus and Judd.) and plays with it with his friend until they get tired and Bubba tosses it into a tree (which Red recovers it for Mater by spraying it with his hose). He later appears when Mater and his cousins head back to town where he challenges Mater to a race, and the loser will buy the winner a tank of gas. Then Mater had an idea. He decided that they should race backwards, because he knew that Bubba can't race backwards. The race track went down Main Street, around the statue of Stanley twice, then back down Main Street to the finish line. Bubba started out in the lead, but he lost control when he went around the statue of Stanley. Mater passed him, and won the race.

Tater (voiced by Stephen Stanton) and Tater Jr. (voiced by Andrew Stanton) are two rusty tow trucks that are the proprider of the world famous "'Ol Tater Towing Company" and used to be Bubba's sidekicks but reformed and became friends of Mater in the end. Tater and Tater Jr. have opposite paint jobs of each other: Tater is painted brown, with green doors and a black hat and brown rims. Tater Jr.'s scheme is the other way around - green with brown doors, and with a white hat. Tater and Tater Jr. came all the way down to Radiator Springs with their fellow Bubba to race in the towing racing at the Rustbucket stadium. Unlike Bubba, the Taters are friendly and a little goofy. They didn't win the towing racing series, but they made a new friend (since their names Tater rhymes with Mater's name) and decide to stay a while in Radiator Springs.

Finn McMissile borrowed various design cues from 1960s sportscars, including the (from top to bottom; Peerless, Aston Martin DB5 and BMW 507

Finn McMissile (voiced by Michael Caine, Martin Jarvis in all video games) is a British secret agent who recruits Mater, whom he mistakes for a cleverly disguised American agent, to help in his mission. Caine depicted his character Finn based on his previous role Harry Palmer from The IPCRESS File and its sequels. He is also similar to James Bond, whom Michael Caine did not portray.

Originally, Finn was supposed to appear in the first Cars movie. In a sequence that never went beyond the storyboarding stage, Lightning and Sally visited a drive-in theater where a James Bond-type film about a superspy car named "Finn McMissile" was playing. This scene was deleted.[74] The design of Finn is inspired by several cars: the roofline and doors of the Volvo P1800 (possibly inspired by Roger Moore's ownership of one while filming The Saint TV espionage series in the early 1960s, as Moore also portrayed Bond from 1973 to 1985), the grill and fenders of the BMW 507, and some major elements of the iconic James Bond Aston Martin DB5, debuting in Goldfinger (including its sound, as clearly heard in the intro of GoldenEye). The look of the car has been slightly modified; Finn has a different grill that looks like a suave mustache, but like Bond, he does have plenty of gadgets.[75] His small tailfins were inspired by a 1958 British sports car called the Peerless—one of the few British cars with fins.[76] Finn is fluent in many languages, most notably English, Japanese, French, and Italian. He is outfitted with a plethora of gadgets, including: two (front) bumperette grappling hooks, a right headlight spy camera, a left headlight missile launcher, side mirror digital readouts, a deployable glass cutter, front wheel hub magnetic explosives launchers, side vent deployable machine guns, rear wheel hub deployable surveillance probes, rear bumperette grappling hooks, a rear turn signal oil dispenser, a miniature car that he can deploy (called a "skate jack"), an undercarriage mounted quad harpoon gun, a hydrofoil for oversea travel, a roof-deployed holographic disguise emitter, magnet tires, and a submarine-mode for underwater escapes.[76] Finn made a cameo in Toy Story 3 on a poster in Andy's room. His license plate is 314 FMCM, which includes a reference to his initials. The number 314 indicates Caine's birthday, March 14, the same day as Billy Crystal, another actor for Pixar. His belief about the World Grand Prix turns out to be true, as it was all just a setup by Miles Axlerod to make alternate fuel seem dangerous and make cars run on his own fuel with no choice.

Finn McMissile appears in Kinect Rush: A Disney-Pixar Adventure. It was revealed that Finn was a spy who was on the biggest oil platform in the world before he met Mater. None of them knew that Mater was not a spy. He just answered the question correctly.

Holley Shiftwell's design is heavily influenced by Jaguar supercars; the C-X75 and XJR-15

Holley Shiftwell (voiced by Emily Mortimer) is a British spy-in-training who is Mater's love interest/girlfriend in the film. She is loosely based on the Jaguar C-X75 and Jaguar XJR-15.

Holley's name is a reference to Holley Performance Products, Inc., a manufacturer of high-performance carburetors and fuel systems located in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Her design was made from a Jaguar XJR-15. Her name is possibly also a reference to Bond Girl Holly Goodhead. Her license plate is HS1201, which includes her initials. The number 1201 is Emily Mortimer's birthday in American date order (December 1).

Holley is equipped with gadgets including: (front) projection lamps above headlights that emit a heads-up display, headlight cameras; a (side) right wheel concealed gun and an electro-shock device, a telescoping utility arm, (undercarriage) mounted dual trackball platforms for controlling the heads-up display, and retractable wings for flight.[76]

Holley Shiftwell appears in Kinect Rush: A Disney-Pixar Adventure. She is a playable character in the Disney Infinity series.

Siddeley (voiced by Jason Isaacs) is a Gulfstream V spy jet. He is 176 feet long with a 157-foot wingspan (53 and 48 meters respectively) and is shown to possess afterburners, though no aspect of his airframe is suited to supersonic flight, In addition, he has VTOL (vertical-takeoff and landing) capabilities. His tail has A113 painted on it, a recurring gag in the Pixar films. Siddeley is also seen once in the Mexican Airport in a spinoff movie Planes as a background jet, and twice in its sequel Planes: Fire and Rescue as a visiting VIP (Very Important Plane), and was mentioned to be the cause of the massive wildfire during the third-fourth of the movie. [77] His name is a reference to the British aerospace company Hawker Siddeley.

Stephenson is a spy train, who first appeared in Cars 2 working with Finn McMissile. Stephenson brings Finn, Holley, and Mater to Porto Corsa, Italy. Stephenson is a state-of-the-art bullet train, who scrambles switchboards, hops international rail lines, and can make it from Dover to Porto Corsa in five hours. He has no dining car and no spare compartment because he's filled with the finest in high-tech, classified spy gear and probably has a few secret agents aboard. One of his carriages contains high-tech equipment that modifies and adds gadgets to cars. His only line in Cars 2 is "Finn, one hour to Porta Corsa". Stephenson is named after the "father of railways", namely George Stephenson.

Leland Turbo (voiced by Jason Isaacs) was a British agent who appeared in the film's beginning. He sends a video message to Finn McMissile about what he sees in Professor Zündapp's oil rig. However, by the time Finn arrives at the rig, the lemons have found Leland and crushed him into a cube. He appears to be based on a Jaguar E-Type. His name is most likely based on Leyland Motors, a now-defunct British vehicle manufacturer.

Rod Redline (voiced by Bruce Campbell) was considered by many as America's greatest spy. He is the agent McMissile and Shiftwell were supposed to meet before he ran into Mater, which leads to the mistake of the spy cars thinking Mater is Rod Redline. He is a crossover between a 2005 Mustang GT and a Dodge Challenger R/T. His license plate suggests that he is from Michigan, which is where Bruce is from.

In the beginning of the film, he is seen by McMissile (disguised as a lemon named Rex Gremlin) talking to Professor Zündapp about the camera. In the bathroom, Rod takes off his Rex Gremlin disguise so Finn and Holley can recognize him. Unfortunately, lemons Grem and Acer follow him in the bathroom and his plan backfires when they recognize him before Holley can meet him. Rod tries to fight them off, but the two lemons dodge his tactics and severely damage him. Cornered by the villains, he turns his information over to a rusty American tow truck named Mater before being captured. He is later filled with Allinol at the lemons' hideout. Rod thanks them due to the fact that Allinol is good for cars, but Professor Zündapp reveals to the agent that Allinol explodes when it is hit with an electromagnetic pulse. As it turned out, the Lemons were going to torture him until he told them who the information was passed to. Despite the torture, Rod refuses to reveal the info, but the lemons realize that Redline passed the info to Mater. Redline is killed afterwards.

Tomber (voiced by Michel Michelis) is Finn McMissile's underground informant. Having been saved from a long sentence in a Moroccan impound lot (20 years to life) by McMissile, Tomber has since become an auto-parts dealer. He specializes in rare parts, such as the ones needed to keep a certain Rover V8 going. Mater and Tomber get along from their first meeting, both respecting the other's knowledge of cars and specific parts. Tomber (French for "to tumble") is a Reliant Regal threewheeler, a car notorious for its poor handling and tendency to roll over in even gentle turns. His license plate reads "PCS NO1R". He may be based on Del Boy from Only Fools & Horses.

Crabby the Boat (voiced by Sig Hansen) is a fishing vessel that is based on the F/V Northwestern, a boat captained by Hansen and featured in the American reality TV series Deadliest Catch. Crabby is painted and designed like the Northwestern. He is seen in the beginning of the film with Finn McMissile aboard him. Finn has paid Crabby to bring him to a certain location in the ocean so he can look for a car, a request that greatly puzzles Crabby. Once they reach the spot, Tony Trihull (see below) intercepts Crabby and threatens him with a missile launcher, forcing him to turn back. Crabby apologizes to Finn as he heads home, not knowing that Finn has already slipped off board and hitched onto Tony to continue his mission.

Range Rover

Miles Axlerod (voiced by Eddie Izzard) is a former oil baron who has sold off his fortune after he supposedly converted himself into an electric vehicle. He was the first car to circumnavigate the globe without any GPS which is similar to explorer, Ferdinand Magellan who circulated the globe. Axlerod created the World Grand Prix to promote his new wonder-fuel, Allinol. Axlerod later reveals that he owns the largest untapped oil reserves in the world. His "alternative fuel" is actually ordinary gasoline engineered to ignite if hit with electromagnetic pulses from weapons disguised as television cameras. Axlerod's plans to use oil for world domination are eventually exposed. Axlerod plans to use Professor Zündapp and the Lemon Cars to kill McQueen in the final race, but the EMP weapon fails to finish him off because Sarge switched McQueen's Allinol for Fillmore's organic fuel. As a backup, Axlerod has Zündapp and the lemon cars implant a bomb on Mater's air filter which was not seen in the climax. Mater confronts Axlerod about the conspiracy and forces him to deactivate the bomb with a voice command, proving that he was the one who set it. Axlerod's engine turns out to be the Rover V8 in the photo obtained by McMissile and Shiftwell after Mater opened his front hood (described by Mater and Tomber as "the worst engine/motor ever made"), and he is exposed as a fraud and a liar and he is arrested by the British police. He is based on a 2001-2012 Range Rover.

Zündapp Janus

Professor Zündapp (voiced by Thomas Kretschmann), often referred simply as "Professor Z" (by his henchmen), is an internationally wanted weapons designer who is modelled after a Zündapp Janus 250 with a broken roof rack that evokes the look of a comb over. Though at first Professor Zündapp appears to be the main villain, he is eventually revealed to be a subordinate to Miles Axlerod. According to Lego.com, it is revealed that his full name is Wolfgang Otto Zundapp. Zündapp also appears in Kinect Rush: A Disney-Pixar Adventure.

Tony Trihull (voiced by Lloyd Sherr) is a combat ship (modelled after USS Independence (LCS-2)) who works for Professor Zündapp. He first appears in the beginning when he notices Crabby and Finn in the oil reserve, ordering Crabby to leave. When Crabby refuses, Tony threatens him with a missile battery (based on the RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile). As a result, Crabby leaves but Finn hitches a ride on the back of Tony without him knowing. He later appears again near the end of the film in London when Professor Z tries to escape from being caught by Finn McMissile, yelling for the Professor to hurry and get aboard him. When Finn McMissile stops the Professor, Tony uses a magnetic device to pull the Professor towards him. McMissile shoots several mine-bombs out of his wheels which cling to Tony's big magnet, resulting in a huge explosion killing Tony.

Yugo

Victor Hugo (voiced by Stanley Townsend) is the head lemon of the Hugo family, being referred to as "the boss" by fellow Hugos. He and his Hugos work with Professor Zündapp. During the film, Victor uses Ivan, a blue tow truck (which Mater masquerades as to infiltrate the lemons' meeting), as his own personal transportation that tows him place to place instead of having to drive on his own. Victor and the other main heads of the three lemon families (Gremlin, Pacer, Trunkov) attend a meeting with Professor Z in Porto Corsa. Near the end of the film, Victor is arrested in London with his fellow lemons. He is based on the Zastava Yugo.

Alexander Hugo (voiced by Velibor Topic) is part of the Hugo family that works for Professor Z and Miles Axlerod. He is the only black bodyguard lemon in the entire movie to talk, making him and Victor the only Hugo family members that talk. Despite his young age, he does dirty work (like Victor and Ivan) and attends the lemon meeting. He also is one of the lemons attempting to round up Mater so that the bomb would explode, killing both Mater and Lightning. Near the end of the film, Alexander is arrested in London with his fellow lemons.

Ivan (voiced by Stanley Townsend) is a blue tow truck who serves as Victor Hugo's mode of transportation, towing him around. He resembles Mater greatly, in fact, Mater disguises as Ivan in order to infiltrate a lemon crime meeting. The real Ivan was previously tazed by Holley. He later awoke and captured Holley and even intercepted Mater before he can warn Lightning McQueen about the truth of Allinol. In the end, he is defeated by Mater and arrested alongside the other lemons. His name is pronounced ee-van instead of eye-van.

Grem (voiced by Joe Mantegna) is a dented, rusty orange AMC Gremlin. Acer (voiced by Peter Jacobson) is a beat-up green AMC Pacer. Both of these "lemon" cars are henchmen for Professor Zündapp, Grem and Acer mistake Mater for an American agent with top-secret information, chasing him around the globe. Even though they don't have all the spy weapons and gadgets they are still tough and will do anything and everything to stop secret agents.

• 
  1974 AMC Gremlin
• 
  1975 AMC Pacer

Tubbs Pacer (portrayed by Brad Lewis) is the head lemon of the Pacer family. He and his Pacers work with Professor Zündapp. During the film, Tubbs and the other main heads of the three lemon families (Gremlin, Trunkov, Hugo) attend a meeting with Professor Z in Porto Corsa to discuss their evil plans about discrediting the Allinol by using the radiation disguised camera to crash out the racers in the World Grand Prix that use the gas, and ensure that all cars keep using conventional fuel to secure the profits of their "lemon" organization who managed to secure the largest unexplored oil resources in the world. Tubbs is seen smiling at the idea and cannot wait.

Petey Pacer is a blue AMC Pacer member of the lemon organization. He can be recognized as one of the cars equipped with flamethrowers who attack Finn McMissile on the oil rigs' helipad. During the first race, he accompanies Acer to the pits to get Mater only for Finn to spray them with a fire extinguisher. As they try to chase him, Petey crashes into a Japanese police car and is presumably arrested.

Fred Pacer is a yellow AMC Pacer. He appears as one of the lemons during Rod Redline's death. He was also one of the lemons Finn fights in the back alley. Finn threw Fred onto an elevator and sent it up, causing Fred to be crushed to death.

John Curby Gremlin (voiced by John Mainieri) is the head lemon of the Gremlin family. He originates from Detroit, as he states when he introduces himself to the other lemons. He and his Gremlins work with Professor Zündapp. J. Curby, along with the other main heads of the three lemon families (Pacer, Trunkov, Hugo) attend a meeting with Professor Z in Porto Corsa. Later, In London, as he tries to kill them with a machine gun, he is sprayed by Red, and his fellow Lemons were arrested.

Tyler Gremlin is a red AMC Gremlin.

Don Crumlin is a purple AMC Gremlin named after Don Crum, a Pixar animator.

ZAZ 968

Vladimir Trunkov (voiced by Stanley Townsend) is the head lemon of the Trunkov family. He and his Trunkovs work with Professor Zündapp. During the film, Vladimir and the other main heads of the three lemon families (Gremlin, Pacer, Hugo) attend a meeting with Professor Z in Porto Corsa. He appears to be based on a ZAZ-968 Zaporozhets.

Tolga is a black Trunkov that helps Vladimir Trunkov by protecting him. In the final battle, Tolga and another black Trunkov named Boris Trunkov try to attack Holley, but she picks up and slams two Pacers (Larry Pacer and Dennis Pacer) into them with her flight gear.

Petrov Trunkov is a light green Trunkov. He was presumably on the oil platform and was possibly seen in Paris. Petrov was possibly intended to be a major henchman similar to Grem and Acer as he appears in place of Grem in concept art of the airport chase and is shown as such in merchandise.

Francesco Bernoulli serves as Lightning McQueen's primary rival in the second film. He is a red Ferrari Formula 1 car with white and green decals, his number 1 on his front and sides and LED lights underneath his front wing for nighttime racing (which is never seen in F1 because the front wing is the most common part of an F1 car that breaks). His pit crew consists of a large number of race pitties and his crew chief, Giuseppe Motorosi. When driving, his engine sounds like a V8 Formula One engine. But unlike the F1 cars that were introduced during the 2011 Formula One season, Bernoulli doesn't have DRS. He is voiced by John Turturro in Cars 2 and Cars 2: The Video Game and by Roger Craig Smith in Disney Infinity.

Chevrolet Corvette C6R

Jeff Gorvette, a 2011 Chevrolet Corvette C6R, is a now-retired racer; he appeared in Cars 2 at the World Grand Prix; is Lightning McQueen's good friend; now an announcer for the Piston Cup races in Cars 3 along with his real-life broadcast partner; he is voiced by four-time NASCAR Cup Champion Jeff Gordon. During his time as a racer, his crew chief was John Lassetire. Like Jeff Gordon, Gorvette's race number is 24.

Shu Todoroki is a Japanese Dome S102 Le Mans endurance race car. He has a crew chief named Mach Matsuo during his races and wears the number 7. Shu also has a red kai-ru dragon on his body and has won countless endurance championships, including Suzuka. He is voiced by Erik Passoja.

Carla Veloso is a Brazilian Peugeot Type 908 Le Mans Endurance race car. Her pit team includes her crew chief, Cruz Besouro. She is voiced by Claudia Leitte in the Brazilian version of the film and Jossara Jinaro for other roles. Her racing number is 8.

McLaren MP4-12C GT3 car

Lewis Hamilton, a black McLaren MP4-12C Group GT3 car, that represents the United Kingdom and his home country, Grenada bearing the number 2. He has a crew chief named Bruce Boxmann and is good friends with Lightning McQueen and Jeff Gorvette. He is named after and voiced by the Formula 1 racing driver of the same name. The McLaren chassis is also a reference to the first F1 team the real life Hamilton drove for: McLaren.

Aston Martin DBR9

Nigel Gearsley is a British Racing Green Aston Martin DBR9 who also represents the United Kingdom. He has won numerous races including Nürburgring and 24 Hours of Le Mans. He is voiced by Greg Ellis and has a crew chief named Austin Littleton. His racing number is 9.

Citroen C4 WRC

Raoul ÇaRoule is a French rally car who has won nine World Rally Championships before the events of Cars 2. He is modeled after a Citroën C4 WRC and is voiced by Jerome Dalton. Bruno Motoreau is his crew chief and his racing number is 6 (known as 06 in the film).

Opel Astra DTM car

Max Schnell is a champion of the fictional World Torque Championship League (WtCL) racing with the number 4. He is a DTM car roughly based on an Opel Astra or Opel Insignia (although there are no emblems) who represents Germany. He has a carbon fiber body with the stripes of his German flag on his roof. His crew chief is Otto Bonn which is a reference to the popular German Highway. In The German release of Cars 2, Max was known as Sebastian Schnell and was voiced by four-time F1 Champion, Sebastian Vettel. For other roles, Max is voiced by James Rankin.

Miguel Camino is a GT racing champion from Spain. He is slightly modeled after a Ferrari 458 with some elements of the Corvette. His voice actor is Antonio Banderas. Petro Cartalina is his crew chief. He was also the first racer to be struck by the lemon's electromagnetic pulse emitter forcing him to DNF the Tokyo race in the World Grand Prix. His racing number is 5.

Rip Clutchgoneski is loosely based on a Caparo T1 who represents a fictional country called The Republic of New Rearendia (A joke on "rear end"). His pit crew consists of two pitties and his crew chief, Brian Gearlookski. He has no voice actor. 10 is Rip's racing number.

In foreign releases, the Corvette character voiced by Jeff Gordon is replaced by a different character.

Daisu Tsashimi, played by Daisuke "Dice" Tsutsumi, is the name of the forklift sushi chef who serves Mater wasabi, when Mater mistook it for delicious pistachio ice cream. Tsashimi is a play on sashimi, and his given name could be a play on the Japanese auto marque Daihatsu, as well as his full name being a play on "diced sashimi".

Renault Dauphine

Mama Topolino (voiced by Vanessa Redgrave) is Luigi's aunt. She resembles a 1950 Renault (or maybe Alfa Romeo) Dauphine.

1948 Fiat 500 "Topolino"

Uncle Topolino (voiced by Franco Nero) is Luigi's uncle. He is a Fiat 500 "Topolino" from 1948 or earlier ("Topolino", which translates as "Little mouse", is Mickey Mouse's Italian name). The cover on his top resembles a hair style, similar to Luigi's.

Rolls-Royce Phantom IV

Queen Elizabeth II (voiced by Vanessa Redgrave) is a classic Rolls Royce Phantom car watching the race from Buckingham Palace. She knights Mater for his bravery in foiling Axlerod's plot. Her roof racks are made to look like a crown.

2009 Bentley Continental GT

Prince Wheeliam, the grandson of the Queen of the United Kingdom, is based on Prince William, Duke of Cambridge. He is a Bentley Continental GT and a fan of Britain's Lewis Hamilton and Nigel Gearsley. His name is a pun of "wheel" and "William".

Celine Dephare is a car with eyes in her headlights. She is a reference to where the eyes of all the characters would originally be.

Signora Bernoulli is Francesco's mother. She is seen at the Porto Corsa race cheering her son on. She is a 1960s era Ferrari 312 Formula One race car and, as evidenced by her number 01, his biggest fan other than himself.

Mel Dorado (voiced by Patrick Walker) is the host of the "Mel Dorado Show" where he interviews Miles Axlerod and Francesco Bernoulli. Mater calls the show and eventually gets McQueen into the World Grand Prix. As his name indicates he is a Cadillac Eldorado. As evidenced by his glasses and smile, he is loosely based on Larry King.

The Popemobile is only seen at the Italian World Grand Prix Race – he is seen inside a bulletproof "popemobile" for his personal protection. He is among the many fans in the stands. The Popemobile is referred to earlier in the film when Mater asks, "Is the Popemobile Catholic?" He has no lines in the film. Black-hatted priests can be seen next to the Popemobile while he sits in the stands at Porta Corsa for the second race in the World Grand Prix. Small Isetta forklifts, similar to the Guido character, are seen in white cassocks and red hats waving incense into the air.

Topper Deckington III is a London double-decker bus.

Brent Mustangburger, a 1965 Ford Mustang in traditional racing blue, is based on ESPN/ABC sportscaster Brent Musburger, who provides the character's voice.[78] He re-appears in the spin-off film Planes.

Jaguar E Type

David Hobbscap, a British racing green 1963 Jaguar Coombs Lightweight E-Type, is a former champion from 24 Heures du Mans turned television sportscaster.[79] His character is based on the real life former British racing driver and current NBC Sports commentator David Hobbs, who provides the character's voice. Jacques Villeneuve voices the character in the French and Quebec versions of Cars 2. He joins Brent Mustangburger and Darrell Cartrip.

Smokey, an older orange Hudson pickup truck, is Doc Hudson's old mechanic and crew chief who also helps McQueen, with his other participants (old timers River Scott, Louise Nash, and Junior Moon) at the abandoned Thomasville Speedway. He explains to McQueen that while Doc was devastated by no longer racing, he found greater happiness in training him.

At the Florida 500, Smokey acts as McQueen's crew chief. He helps McQueen coach Cruz when she enters and race. Smokey is then seen at Willy's Butte for an exhibition race between McQueen and Cruz. He returned as a playable character in Cars 3: Driven to Win.

He is voiced by Chris Cooper. The character is based on Daytona Beach garage owner Smokey Yunick, whose innovations were well known in motorsport, as he entered the No. 13 Chevelle for Johnny Rutherford that won the 1963 Daytona 500 qualifying race and also fielded a car in the 1964 Indianapolis 500 for Bobby Johns, but failed to qualify.

Nash Ambassador

Louise "Barnstormer" Nash, a white 1950 Nash Ambassador, is a retired Piston Cup racer from the 1950s and was one of the three legends to live in Thomasville with Smokey at the abandoned Thomasville Speedway. She has her number 94 in pink. She was known as the "First Lady of Racing" because having a female racer in the Piston Cup was an extreme rarity on the track. She won three races in a row in her first season against Doc Hudson. As one of the first and only females in racing at the time, it wasn't an easy road for Louise. She had to steal her racing number to get her first chance on the track. But Louise's fearless driving style soon won her the respect of every car she raced. Sassy and fun-loving, she still enjoys kicking off her hubcaps and racing at top speed.

In Cars 3, Lightning McQueen meets Nash and several other Piston Cup legends (River Scott and Junior Moon) while visiting Smokey's Automotive Service during his recovery. She was present in the race, where Doc Hudson had his big crash at Fireball Beach. According to River, Louise had "serious eyes" for Doc, but she simply said Doc didn't like fast women and that left her out. She later appeared in the stands at the Florida International Speedway watching the FLORIDA 500 and was surprised when Cruz Ramirez flipped over Jackson Storm (the same manoeuver Doc Hudson did against Leroy Hemming in 1951), and getting the win. She was later seen in Radiator Springs with River, Smokey and Junior watching Lightning and Cruz doing an exhibition race at Willy's Butte. She returned in Cars 3: Driven to Win as a playable unlockable character.

Louise Nash is voiced by Margo Martindale and was inspired by NASCAR driver Louise Smith. In Smith's first race, she used a Nash Ambassador, which is used for Louise's car model.

River Scott, a grey and black 1938 Dirt Track Racer, is a Piston Cup Series racer from the 1950s where Lightning McQueen and Cruz Ramirez meet in Thomasville. His number was 34. River Scott came from modest beginnings, but he always made the very best of what he had. With seven circuit wins from the early 1950s, his unique body style made him a trailblazer in the Piston Cup. He was scrappy and improvisational, and wore his dents proudly as symbols of what he had been through. He was Doc's racing contemporary and friend, and loves to tell tales of the good old days.

River Scott, as well as Smokey, Louise Nash and Junior Moon helped Lightning McQueen in his training to defeat Jackson Storm at the FLORIDA 500. He also watch the race in the grandstand with Louise and Junior and was impressed with Cruz flipping over Storm for the win. He also visited Radiator Springs to watch McQueen and Cruz doing an exhibition race. He also returned as a playable character in Cars 3: Driven to Win.

River Scott is voiced by Isiah Whitlock Jr. and was inspired by the late NASCAR driver Wendell Scott.

Junior "Midnight" Moon is a black 1940 Ford Standard Coupe and a retired Piston Cup racer from the 1950s. Long before official stock car tracks existed, souped-up jalopies raced for fun on wooded back roads with only the moon to light their way. That's where Junior Moon got his start and his name. Junior raced by his own rules. Hud and all the other early Piston Cup Competitors truly loved to race with him.

In Cars 3, along with Smokey, Louise Nash and River Scott at Smokey's Automotive Service, he gives advice to Lightning McQueen during the latter's recovery. In the movie, "Midnight" explains to McQueen how he discovered how to draft in racing. He also appeared in flashbacks with Doc Hudson during Doc's racing days. During the flashback, he had the number 11 in white. He was seen surprised with Louise Nash and River Scott after seeing Cruz Ramirez flipping over Jackson Storm and cheered her on while she's getting ready to race Lightning McQueen in an exhibition race in Radiator Springs. Junior returned to Cars 3: Driven to Win as a playable unlockable character.

Junior Moon was voiced and was inspired by legendary NASCAR driver, Junior Johnson.

Leroy Heming is a white 1955 Chrysler 300 race car who raced against Doc Hudson during his time in racing. He was referred as the Rookie by Smokey when he made his debut in the 1951 Piston Cup season. During his rookie season, he tried to ram Doc Hudson into a wall, but Hudson flipped over him (the same maneuver Cruz did against Jackson Storm at the FLORIDA 500). Since then, they have become rivals until Hudson suffered a deadly rollover crash in '54 permanently ending his racing career. Leroy soon won the Piston Cup after Hudson's retirement. He formerly raced for Re-Volting, and Faraday Valley Dealers, with the number 300. He is from Orlando, Florida. His design is inspired by Tim Flock's 1955 car from NASCAR.

Mike Joyride is a Citroën 2CV, voiced by Fox NASCAR lead commentator Mike Joy. He announces the unconfirmed status of McQueen's racing career after his crash and assumes the end of his racing days.

Miss Fritter is a villainous demolition derby-inspired monster ICU school bus Type C with various license plates hanging down her left side, smoke stacks of doom that release fire and her race number 58 on her sides. She is Lightning McQueen's nemesis turned friend, an undefeated Crazy-8 champion in the movie. She appears at a demolition derby at Thunder Hollow Speedway. She nearly saws Cruz with her Stop sign saw blades until Lightning McQueen, disguised as Chester Whipplefilter stops her only to get his tire shredded because the saw was lodged between his rear fender and tire. Cruz Ramirez ends up winning the race.

Miss Fritter is then seen cheering for McQueen and Cruz, watching the Florida 500 on TV. Then she appeared in a Cars 3 short film "Miss Fritter's Racing Skoool" shooting a commercial for demolition derby racing along with her friends from Thunder Hollow. She returned in "Cars 3: Driven to Win" as an unlockable playable character and the first Master Event Boss Character. She is unlocked by completing and defeating her in the Master-level event, Miss Fritter Battle Race. She also chased Jackson Storm, an arrogent Next-Gen Piston Cup racer determined to beat anyone anywhere, at Thunder Hollow after the player beats him to the finish in the master-level event, Jackson Storm Race.

She is voiced by Lea Delaria.[80]

Besides Lightning McQueen, Cruz Ramirez and Miss Fritter, here are other demolition derby racers that race against them at Thunder Hollow Speedway.

• Arvy Motorhome (voiced by Jeremy Maxwell) is a white and lime 1995 Boxomatic Coach with the number 00 sloppily painted on his doors. He also has a ring on his grille, resembling a bull. Arvy is one of Thunder Hollow's most goofy competitors, participating in derbies every Friday night. During the race in the film, Pushover lands on his roof, causing Arvy to exclaim, "Look at my new hat!" He is later eliminated by falling on his left side along with Pushover. He returned to Cars 3: Driven to Win as an unlockable playable character once the player reaches 40 skill checks.
• Dr. Damage (voiced by Bob Peterson) is a white and orange modified ambulance with yellow and blue decals. He is modeled after a 1993 Silverliner Medi-cab and bears the number 5. He is nicknamed the "Rambulance" in the Thunder Hollow derbies and often makes siren noises as he races. He is eliminated after Faregame flies into his back, making him lose control and hit a wall. He returned as a playable character in Cars 3: Driven to Win.
• Taco is a rusty 1982 Equalizer Mule pickup truck painted yellow with green, brown and red decals and the number 4 on his doors. His body is badly bent in a "V" shape thanks to being sandwiched between two cars in a wreck, but his wife gave him a new paint job and has it since. He enjoys competing in demolition derbies in Thunder Hollow Speedway. During the race, Taco rams Faregame into Dr. Damage, eliminating them both and gets eliminated when Miss Fritter flips him up in the air, and fell face first in the mud making him stuck. He reappeared in the short "Miss Fritter's Racing Skoool." His voice actor is currently unknown.
• Jimbo is a maroon truck that enjoys competing in demolition derby events. He has a battered-looking body with the number 13 sloppily painted on his doors. He is eliminated when he flips through the air hitting a couple of tires and getting stuck in the mud. He later tells Cruz to run when Miss Fritter was getting ready to saw her.
• T-Bone is a gold and blue demolition derby car whose entire body is bent in an awkward shape. His racing number is 45. He was eliminated from the competition when High Impact hits him, causing him to drive again and later gets hit by Pileup, turning him back to a weird shaped car (again). He and Pileup create a ramp for Miss Fritter when she crashes into a "It's Fritter Time" sign, eliminating her from the competition and ending her unbeaten winning streak.
• APB is a Capital Motors TPAS Police Car who enjoys competing in demolition derbies in Thunder Hollow Speedway, basing her appearance on that of a police officer. She has a black and white livery, with a star painted on her doors, and many dents on her body. When competing, her racing number is 54. Her only line in Cars 3 is "To Protect and swerve!" when she does donuts around a shocked Lightning McQueen and Cruz Ramirez trying to intimidate them. She is eliminated from the competition by crashing into Cigalert, Patty and Bill and later into a fence. Many cars think that APB stands for "All Points Bulletin," (which should be her full name) but in this case, APB stands for "Always Pumping the Brakes" in the demolition derby.
• Blindspot (or Blind Spot as most people call her), is a blue and pink Brawny Motor Co. Prince XL who participates in the demolition derby at the Thunder Hollow Speedway, bearing the number 10 on her hood and doors. Even when she's smashed, dented, and in serious need of refueling, she refuses to take a break from the demolition derby. She loves giving it her all – quite literrally – until she's got nothing to give. One can find her being carted off the Thunder Hollow Crazy Eight track after each race – still yammering on about getting back in there to wreak havoc.
• Pushover is a demolition derby race car. His number is 16. He is painted orange with yellow stripes, and has a "mouth" painted on his sides, and a white bumper. He is sponsored by "This-N-That", a car parts store which is one of the main sponsors in Thunder Hollow. He gets eliminated along with Arvy after he first lands on Arvy's roof and they fell on their sides.
• Tailgate is a female demolition derby car who regularly competes in Thunder Hollow. She has a pink livery, with a number 88 crudely painted on her doors. She is sponsored by Greasy Grille. Tailgate is ultimately eliminated from the competition when Liability slams into her, spinning them both out.
• Cigalert is a female demolition derby car who regularly competes in Thunder Hollow. She has a red, white, and blue livery based on the American flag, as well as the number 22 crudely painted on her doors. During the film, Miss Fritter pushes her, making her collide with Patty and Bill and other cars. APB hits her, making her get stuck in a tire and gets eliminated from the competition. She appears at the end of Miss Fritter's commercial in "Miss Fritter's Racing Skoool".
• Fishtail is a grey demolition derby car with blue and orange decals. His racing number is 96 and his sponsor is "Wild Bill's Racing Cones". He knocked out Pushover, causing him to flip and land on top of Arvy, and was last seen with Broadside before Faregame and Dr. Damage are eliminated. He is later knocked out of the race as well.
• Broadside is a blue demolition derby racing truck with the number 25 who competes in the Thunder Hollow derby. He is later eliminating by hitting Blind Spot. He returned in Cars 3: Driven to Win as a non-playable racer in the Thunder Hollow races.
• Patty is a silver and brown demolition derby car who competes in Thunder Hollow. Her number is 74. She first tried to intimidate Lightning McQueen and Cruz Ramirez before the race along with the other Thunder Hollow Crazy Eight Racers. Patty can be seen spinning out and later gets rammed by Miss Fritter pushing her, Bill and Cigalert (Which she and Bill said hey to each other). Patty is eliminated when APB hits her with the others, causing them to crash into the walls. Her voice actor is currently unknown. She is named after Pixar employee Patty Kihm.
• Bill is a rusty car who competes in demolition derby races in Thunder Hollow. He has an orange, blue, and yellow livery, though it is somewhat faded due to rust. He wears the number 86 when competing. He was pushed by Miss Fritter along with Patty (who greet each other as their pushed) and later gets eliminated from the competition. He was later seen watching the Florida 500 along with Miss Fritter who cheer when Natalie Curtain mentions that Cruz first won at their track. He returned in Cars 3: Driven to Win as a non-playable character in Thunder Hollow's races, including the Miss Fritter Battle Race. His voice actor is currently unknown. Bill also have a Luxo ball painted on his hood from the Pixar short, Luxo, Jr.
• Pileup is a Crazy Eight race car at Thunder Hollow. His racing number is 11. He is painted green with red flames, and also has a face painted on his back. He can drive either forwards or backwards in the races. He survives the entire demolition derby until the end, where he crashes into T-Bone. Later, they are both used as a ramp as Miss Fritter rides up him, slamming into a "Fritter time" sign.
• High Impact is an orange rusty car with green, white and black decals who competes in the Thunder Hollow demolition derby. Her racing number is 12. At one point she accidentally crashes into a pile of tires, leaving her stuck in the mud beside the track. However she rejoins the race hitting T-bone before she is eliminated. She returned in Cars 3: Driven to Win as a non playable character in Thunder Hollow races.
• Faregame (voiced by Jason Pace) is a demolition derby taxi who enjoys competing in Thunder Hollow's demolition derbies. He has a yellow and black livery, and his racing number is 42. He honks his horn to cutoff any curse words from his mouth. During the race, he is dueling with Tailgate but later tries to hit Lightning but instead hits Arvy and gets rammed by Dr. Damage. He is eliminated from the competition when Taco hits him from behind, causing him to fly forwards and get stuck in the back of Dr. Damage, who loses control and hits a wall, leaving him eliminated as well. He appears in the Cars 3 short, "Miss Fritter's Racing Skoool" where he was one of select derby racers to talk about their previous life before being a demolition derby racer. He reveals that he went to his mechanic to get his routine check, where his mechanic told him to learn to relax. However, instead of following his mechanic's advice, he went to Miss Fritter's racing school, and is now "as relaxed as a VW van". He and Arvy also appear behind some wooden cut-outs, pretending to be Lightning McQueen and Cruz Ramirez as part of the commercial, respectively.
• Airborne (Sometimes known as Airbone) is a demolition derby race car who regularly competes in Thunder Hollow Speedway's Crazy Eight. He is painted yellow with blue and green decals and his race number 90 in red. He was eliminated from the competition when he was flipped on his hood.
• Superfly is a blue, yellow and green demolition derby race car who regularly competes in the Thunder Hollow demolition derby. His race number is 72. At one point, he drives into some tires, loses control, and flies into the air, before crashing down on Todd, flipping several times, and hitting a fence. He is seen again in the Thunder Hollow bar cheering on Cruz Ramirez in the Florida 500. His voice actor is currently unknown.
• Jambalaya Chimichanga is a white Crazy Eight demolition derby car with some red, blue, green and yellow decals. Her racing number is 27. Jambalaya is seen mostly racing against a disguised Lightning McQueen during the race, but later gets hit by Dr. Damage, flipping her into the air, and is eliminated. She would later cheer on for McQueen while watching the Florida 500 on TV with her friends.
• Liability is a demolition derby race car who regularly competes in Thunder Hollow's Crazy Eight. She is painted purple and green and has the number 77. Light the other Crazy Eight racers, she was eliminated from the competition. She was seen slamming into Tailgate during the race.
• Hit and Run are two green and blue demolition derby Yugo GL race cars who work together as partners to win demolition derby races. Hit has the number 1 and Run has the number 2 on their sides each having a dash and a 2 underneath it (Hit: 1/2, Run: 2/2). They utilize a "bait" strategy, with Run luring opponents with his easy-to-hit appearance, while Hit slams into his pursuers. Both Hit and Run are eliminated when they bump into Miss Fritter, making her angry and smash into them. They watch the Florida 500 with Miss Fritter cheering on Lightning McQueen and Cruz Ramirez.
• Todd is a Pizza Planet truck who appeared in all of the Cars films, including visiting the Thunder Hollow demolition derby in Cars 3. He is a Gyoza Poky 2.4 Liter Inline 4, which is consistent with the model the truck was given in Toy Story 2. Todd is painted in yellow and white livery, with the Pizza Planet logo on both of his doors. He has the Rocketship resembling Pizza Planet atop his roof. In the demolition derby, he appears with the racing number 07. He is eliminated from the competition when Superfly hits him. His rocket flies off him and hits a caravan. A forklift catches it after this.

Sweet Tea is a forklift and Louise Nash's former pitty, voiced by American singer and songwriter Andra Day. Sweet Tea knows all about fighting hard to prove that women deserve their fair shake in the racing world. When Louise retired, she discovered she had a singing voice as smooth as freshly laid asphalt. She now spends her time belting out country classics at the Cotter Pin.

Mr. Windshield was a character which was scrapped from the storyline around 2003. Based on concept art, he was going to be a yellow Packard Clipper, although a 2000 concept sketch by Dave Deal shows him as a Packard Super Eight rather than a Clipper. As his name implies, he was going to be an optometrist/windshield salesman, and while the character was scrapped, his shop still made it into the final film. The design was reused for Ramone's House of Body Art.

These three Piston Cup racers were planned to be in the film racing in the Dinoco 400 at the Motor Speedway of the South but there was no racer featured even if their numbers made a camo appearance in the Cars film or the Video Game via the leaderboard tower. Currently the number 3 is driven by Austin Dillon with Richard Childress Racing and the 9 is used by Hendrick Motorsports's Chase Elliott in the NASCAR Cup Series. The number 113 is a Pixar gag to the call sign A113 which featured by almost every Disney-Pixar film.

Zil was originally going to be the main antagonist in Cars 2, but was ultimately dropped in favour of Professor Z and Miles Axlerod. His design was based on the 1951 ZIS-112/1, but with one adjustment: the ZIL logo is on his front bumper.

Giulia was an original character in the beginnings of Cars 2. She was intended to be the double agent that met up with Mater. Giulia was left out of the completed movie, and replaced by Holley Shiftwell. She is modelled as an Alfa Romeo, resembling an Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider.

These Piston Cup racers were planned to be the new Shifty Drug racers in place of Kevin Racetire after his retirement before Cars 3. First the team would have hired a veteran namer Elliott Diamond before he would later get fired and replaced by a Next-Gen named Pluto Oswald and the Bumper Save Gears & Glory 400. Oswald would also be involved in a crashed caused by Cam Spinner and DNF the FLORIDA 500. Both were removed before they were officially announced.