Lightning McQueen

"You've got more talent in one lugnut than a lot of cars have got in their whole body."

Strip Weathers on Lightning McQueen

Lightning McQueen is the main protagonist in Cars. He was a rookie in the 2006 season of the Piston Cup, and was tied with Strip Weathers and Chick Hicks in points at the supposed final Piston Cup event for that year, the Dinoco 400 at Motor Speedway of the South. The all had 5013 points, and the Dinoco 400 was going to break the tie between the three racers. Lightning is protrayed by Owen Wilson.

Description:

Lightning McQueen is a car with a NASCAR body design. His number in the Piston Cup series is 95, and his sponsor is his always loyal Rust-Eze. He has blue eyes and a rather stuck-up attitude when he was racing for the Piston Cup. He uses Lightyear tires with red rims and he has a lucky sticker that looks like a lightning bolt. His main color is red, but his logo, number, and lightning bolts have gray, yellow, orange, and black. He has a famous move in which he jump, turns, and says "Ka-Chow". He also has a reputation for firing his crew chiefs. He fired 3 crew chiefs during his rookie year. His top speed is 200 mph 322 km/h

Walkthrough of Experience:

McQueen failed to win the Dinoco 400 because of a lost tire, but he did "tongue-tie" Hicks and Weathers. So, the tie-breaker was going to be held at Los Angeles International Speedway. Lightning McQueen had believed he had won the Piston Cup, but soon found out he didn't when he raced out onto a stage and the announcer not only introduced him, but Chick Hicks and Strip Weathers.

Before the ceremony, McQueen's team dumped him because he wanted a team member to move over so someone could take a photograph of his bolt. Also, Mia and Tia, two identical sisters and Lightning McQueen fans, introduced themselves to McQueen. They were lead away by security vans but managed to tell him they loved him. Shortly after, Strip Weathers gave Lightning a talk about having a good team. Lightning then goes into a dream state. He is awakened just before the ceremony.

Lightning McQueen then has to go and meet with the Rust-Eze cars since Mack pulled the trailer near the Rust-Eze tent. He then unwillingly introduces himself to all the rusty cars, including Fred, whose jaw falls off.

When he is done with the meet, he backs into his trailer and Mack starts driving McQueen to California. Soon, however, Mack starts to drift off to sleep on the road, and a group of hooligans, Wingo, Boost, DJ, and Snot Rod bump and shove him around the road while he is asleep. When he hits bumps in the road, one of Lightning's toy models hits a certain lever to open up the back of the trailer. Lightning then slides of the ramp and into the street where he is almost hit by a group of enormous haulers. He jumps out of the way. He then jumps back onto the road and follows a truck far ahead which he thinks is Mack. The mysterious truck crosses a railroad track, and a steam engine comes rocketing along it. Lightning makes a break for it, and narrowly misses the speeding train. But the truck turns out to be a truck for Jerry's Recycled Batteries. So Lightning goes for what he thinks is the interstate, but it is really Route 66. He ends up in Radiator Springs, with the town Sheriff hot on his heels. He starts tearing up the town by pulling a statue of Stanley, their founder, along the ground with some barbwire that had gotten stuck to him when he was trying to get away from the Sheriff. So, Lightning has to sleep in the impound lot with a steel boot on his tire which acts like a handcuff on a human. He wakes up to see Mater, the town tow-truck, staring at him. Mater is made by the Sheriff to bring him to the town court. Doc Hudson, the judge, tells McQueen to leave the town. But when Sally, a Porsche Carrera, comes in, she changes Doc's decision. She declares that Lightning should fix the road since "we are a town worth fixing".

So Lightning plans to pave the road with Bessie, a road paving machine. But Mater accidentally takes the boot off before he attaches Lightning to Bessie, and he speeds off. But Sally had siphoned his gasoline out while he was sleeping in the impound lot, so Lightning ran out of gas very quickly. So McQueen gets pulled back to Radiator Springs to pave the road. When he was paving, Bessie squirted some black tar on his lucky sticker. He asks the fire truck, Red, to wash it off, but since Lightning crushed all the flowers he was growing when he was ripping up the town, Red didn't agree.

-"I shouldn't have to put up with this! I'm a precisional instrument with speed and aerodynamics."

-"You hurt your what?"

-"I'm a very famous racecar!"

That was the conversation that caused Luigi to come out and excitedly talk to Lightning. He guessed that Lightning was a Ferrari, and he was intrigued. But when Lightning mentioned the Piston Cup, Luigi lost all interest.

When 2 "customers" came along and denied everything Radiator Springs had to offer, Lightning pleaded for them to get him out of Radiator Springs. But they came as no help to him.

Then Lightning hears something that catches his interest on a radio at Lizzie's Curio Shop.

- "...a quick Piston Cup update."

-"Still no sign of Lightning McQueen, meanwhile Chick Hicks has arrived and is the first to spend practice time on the track."

Lightning then goes into a nightmare state where he dreams about Chick winning the Piston Cup. When he wakes, he gets the deal straight with Mater about the road. So he put all his horsepower into pushing Bessie all the way to where the scrape marks ended. However, he does it unevenly. So Doc tells him to scrape it off and start over again. But Lightning challenges Doc to a race, and he agrees. If Lightning wins, he gets let go. If Doc wins, Lightning has to re-do the road.

At the race, Lightning McQueen gets a great start and Doc just sits and waits. On the final turn Lightning spins out and falls off a drop-off into a bunch of cacti. So Doc ends up winning, and Mater has to pull Lightning out of it.

So Lightning bitterly comes back to town and scrapes off the new tar and starts over. He does it right this time, but runs out of asphalt at midnight, and tries to make the turn that has crashed on. He never makes it out of all the times. Doc tells him to "pitch it hard and break it loose and just drive it with the throttle." Doc concludes "if you turn hard enough left, you'll find yourself turning right." Lightning turns away and races off, kicking dust in Doc's face. But Lightning's curiosity got the better of him and he tested the idea. Pretty soon, he found himself in the cacti. He went back to paving the road.

On that night, Mater takes Lightning out Tractor Tippin'. So McQueen agrees, and ends up tipping all the tractors by revving his engine. Frank, a combine, comes bursting out and starts chasing Lightning and Mater. Mater has fun, but Lightning was scared to death.

Lightning and Mater crawl back to town and Mater shows off his backwards driving skills. Mater says that the rear view mirrors help him. After a conversation, Mater asks Lightning if he could take him on a ride in a helicopter. Lightning says he agrees, but doesn't think much of it. He then drives into his cozy cone, and Sally startles him.

The next day, Lightning explores Doc's garage. He found some Piston Cups inside the garage and was amazed. Doc then confronts him and tells him to leave. Lightning tells the town members at Flo's Cafe that Doc Hudson was a famous racecar, the Hudson Hornet. Sally then envites Lightning to go on a drive. Lightning agrees and follows her out to some beautiful scenery and waterfalls. Sally then tells him the story of her past. She also tells him the story of the town, how the original road to Radiator Springs was bypassed by a highway to save 10 minutes of driving.

When Lightning comes back, Mater and a group of tractors come up the hill and start exploring the town. Red, the fire engine, tips most of them, but some go in some stores like Luigi's Casa Della Tires. Lightning McQueen chases a tractor down to Willy's Butte, but it got away. Lightning then sees Doc, getting ready to race one lap all out around Willy's Butte. When Doc finishes and sees Lightning watching, he spins around, sending dirt into Lightning's face. Lightning follows Doc back to his garage. Doc tells why he doesn't race anymore.

That night, Lightning finishes the road. Lightning hides somewhere (the movie doesn't say) and tells Mater he is still there. But Mater still plays along with the idea. Lightning comes out and the Sheriff asks him to hurry up and go. But Lightning suggests that he goes to Luigi's Casa Della Tires for some new tires. Lightning thinks that he should help out the town and go to every shop. He ends up helping out the town a lot, and even gets a brand new Radiator Springs paint job from Ramone. Mater has Lightning hide inside Ramone's House of Body Art when Sally comes. "Ladies and gentlecars, please welcome, the neewww... Lightning McQueen!" says Mater. Lightning suggest that the town turn on all its neon lights.

In the night, a whole group of cars and helicopters come down the road and surround McQueen. They are the reporters and search crew that are looking for McQueen. Mack also shows up, and repeatedly says sorry to Lightning. It turns out that Doc called the crew earlier and told them Lightning McQueen was there. None of the town members, including Mater, get to say goodbye to him. So, they follow the crowd to Los Angeles International Speedway.

When McQueen is on his pace laps, Chick Hicks talks him into a daydream and he doesn't notice the green flag. It takes Lightning a few moments to know what is happening. He finally gets up to speed, but when he is driving behind Hicks, he imagines himself driving with Sally and he spins out. Doc and the team show up as pit crew, and bring him in. Lightning is amazed that they came all the way to Los Angeles. "If you can drive as well as you can fix the road, you can win this race with your eyes shut." said Doc. When Lightning goes back out onto the track, he passes Chick and Strip and gets himself back on the lead lap. When Lightning comes around again, Chick tries to spin him out. But Lightning pulls the backwards driving trick and simply changes directions. However, Chick rubs against Lightning to blow his tire. Lightning comes into the pits to change tires under the caution. He beats the pacecar out and gets back onto the lead lap. When the green flag comes out, it is the final lap. On the last turn, Chick bumps into Lightning and Strip, and they go spinning. Lightning takes Doc's trick and turns the opposite direction he is sliding. He gets back onto the track in front of Weathers and Hicks, but Chick takes Strip out on the final corner! Lightning lets Chick win and goes back to help Weathers finish the race.

After the race, Tex Dinoco asks McQueen if he wants to become the new face of Dinoco. But McQueen chooses to stay with Rust-Eze since they gave him his big break. But of course Lightning didn't totally forget his promise to Mater. He did get in the Dinoco Helicopter for Mater to fly in.

McQueen also set up his racing headquarters at Radiator Springs.

Relationships:

Mater:

Mater was like a friend at Radiator Springs for Lightning. He was lighten things up with his wild ways.

Sally:

Sally was more of a car that Lightning could flirt with.

Doc Hudson:

Even though their relationship started out slow, in the end, it was almost like a father and son relationship.