# Talk:Lightning McQueen

I think that Cars is a franchise for Pixar, and the characters are so complex, they should get their own pages as the article for Cars itself can have links to these pages. It'll be just like the pages for TV shows with links to pages based on the characters. We also need just an image of McQueen, not the King or Chick Hicks.
slay
Who agrees with me on this procedure? User:Imax80

Cars is one movie. One article is sufficient. —tregoweth (talk) 06:31, 17 June 2006 (UTC)
Then exlain me how come The Incredibles and Tron, which are only ONE movie each (And excluding Kingdom Hearts II in the case of the latter), have articles for its characters? Pikawil 14:20, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
I agree, at least some of the characters in the movie deserve their own page, but there are some characters who probably don't yet.  Maybe a combined characters page for everyone?  FrozenPurpleCube 01:51, 25 June 2006 (UTC)
Of course, minor characters should not have their own page.  With a film as significant as Cars (or any Pixar film for that matter), the major characters should have their own pages.Rhindle The Red 00:40, 26 June 2006 (UTC)
Agreed. Besides, I just took the time to add Lightning McQueen to McQueen. -Tracker <small>([[User talk:TrackerTV|>talk)</small>]] 02:49, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

What's the source for his age? —tregoweth (talk) 01:39, 23 July 2006 (UTC)
I was wondering that too. And same thing with the other characters. It was really weird when it said that his age was 15.; Halibut Thyme 08:44, 26 July 2006

I'm pretty sure I remember reading here on Wikipedia that Lightning is in his 20s. dogman15 00:24, 11 October 2006 (UTC)
I agree. People add ages, saying things like Chick Hicks is forty, which is just made up. It was not said in the movie or by any reliable source. Ruby
I've watched the movie, and there is no specific age for Lightning, but he is at least 1. But the ages of the cras in Cars will be very hard to find. ANNAfoxlover 19:44, 12 January 2007 (UTC)
It's me again, ANNAfoxlover, and me and my sister, Ann Turner, have come up with the fact that Lightning McQueen is at least 21 years old in the movie, because he and Sally co-re-open the Wheel Well Motel at the end. You have to be 21 to own (or co-own) a building AND AN ATTORNEY!!!!!!!!!!!. That means that Lightning McQueen and Sally Carrera are both at least 21. Sally is probably younger than McQueen, who is so attracted to her. Sally is PROBABLY 23 or 24, which would make Lightning McQueen around 24 or 25 or 26. By the way, THIS IS HARD LOGIC!!! SOMEONE HELP US!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!! ANNAfoxlover 15:17, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

I think you're thinking too hard on that. The movie already operates in a universe populated by anthropomorphic cars. I mean, Lightning is charged with damaging the road in Radiator Springs and not for lacking headlights or being completely illegal to be on the streets. As such, he should've been impounded and the movie should've ended right there.
Anyway, obsessing over a car's "age" is quite ridiculous. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.112.70.136 (talk) 18:05, 7 February 2007 (UTC).

Sally is Dawn Welch of the Rock Café; this article lists her as 23 when she purchased the restaurant in 1993. Lightning might be a little more difficult to nail down but there's no way she'd take an interest in him if he were just 15 as that would leave a huge age gap. 66.102.83.61 (talk) 06:58, 21 June 2012 (UTC)

I just assumed that the idea in cars was to represent the "big three" of yesteryear,,,with Chick (the chevy), King (Plymouth superbird) and Lightning ( a Tbird similiar to Bill Elliott "94") Why would Lightning be a corvette, GT40, mix, etx..

A lot of things in this film are based on taking multiple real items and combining them into one fictional entity, for instance the Cozy Cone is the Wigwam Motel (Holbrook AZ) but its neon ("100% refrigerated air") is from the Blue Swallow Motel (Tucumcari NM). This movie dumps five US states worth of 66 into one town. Why wouldn't Lightning be multiple different car types stuck together in some odd fashion? It fits the modus operandi of the rest of the film. 66.102.83.61 (talk) 18:10, 21 June 2012 (UTC)

In German, McQueens name is "Lightning McQueen". What means "Blitzen McQueen", when translated into german. But it is not translated. So i think the information could be deleted.  —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.165.13.183 (talk) 20:14, 24 January 2007 (UTC).

I come with this proposal to merge Lightning McQueen into the List of Cars characters because it fails to meet Notability. The fact that the film Cars is notable, it does not mean that McQueen is automatically notable since notability is not inherited. McQueen by himself has not recieved deep coverage by reliable secondary sources, independent from that of the primary work. Furthermore, he is not a cultural icon and he has not made notable appearances outside Cars and other related media. Thoughts? --LoЯd ۞pεth 02:04, 6 February 2010 (UTC)

I believe that due to his status as the lead character in the exapansive Cars franchise, proper encyclopedic coverage is not possible in the confines of a list.  As such, a breakout article like this is required. Rhindle The Red (talk) 16:22, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
As I pointed in the proposal, Notability is not inherited. Being the main character in a notable film does not automatically means that the character is notable. There is no coverage by a vast amout of reliable secondary sources discussing the character apart from the Cars franchise, and the character has not shown impact in popular culture. The article right now has not established notability of its subject, thus the burden of evidence relies on those supporting a separate article, if notability cannot be established, then the article is candidate for merging or deleting (I particularily prefer merging). --LoЯd ۞pεth 01:18, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
Withdrew nomination. I think that we must first wait for the release of the second part, and perhaps with proper sources, this shall prove notability. --LoЯd ۞pεth 02:59, 11 February 2010 (UTC)

Oppose: I see that you've recently been trying to merge a long list of characters, including Sally Carrera, Flo (Cars) and Ramone (Cars), to List of Cars characters. This is becoming ridiculous and unwieldy as the end result is a lengthy list of over a hundred kilobytes, much of it devoted to characters which weren't even in the original 2006 film but were added later as Disney cashed in by turning this into a franchise. Certainly the main characters (Lightning, Mater, Sally...) need to be stand-alone due to their length (for that matter, the real-life Flo's needs to be split from Adrian, Texas to Midpoint Café but that's another issue) and this huge list should be broken up to spin out "list of Cars 2 characters" and "list of Cars Toons characters" as most of this mess of trademarkable characters has nothing to do with the original film.
As for coverage by multiple secondary sources? I can find plenty of local news linking Sally Carrera to Rock Café or Flo (Cars) to the Midpoint Café as the 2006 film drew a huge amount of publicity to a lot of little places on the old road with significant long-term effects on their economic future. (Adrian TX is legally a 'city' but its population is just under 150, so Flo, Mia and Tia all being based on folks at its Midpoint Café represents a huge break for an entire town. Amarillo, on the other hand, would be on the map with or without Tex Dinoco even if any publicity still helps.) 66.102.83.61 (talk) 17:27, 21 June 2012 (UTC)

In the Cars section, it says that McQueen realizes that "he has no true friends", although in the movie itself McQueen's agent Harv asks him inside Mack about how many friends he has. McQueen says "there's uhhm", and Harv responds "Oh, I get it". What Harv says after that implies that McQueen has lots of friends but he can't figure out who to mention first. (although Mater and the other cars he meets in Radiator Springs might as well be some of the best of his friends) MrHumanPersonGuy (talk) 20:18, 5 May 2017 (UTC)

Lightning's real first name is revealed to be 'Monty'. This was revealed in the Cars Origins book Struck by Lightning. You could find the source for it in the WorldofCars Wiki though.
Daisy134 (talk) 03:49, 24 October 2017 (UTC)

Sweaty Spagetti (talk) 00:41, 5 May 2018 (UTC)

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. NiciVampireHeart 01:15, 5 May 2018 (UTC)

I Believe There Are A Few Grammatical Errors And Would Like The Chance To Correct Them ToxicMidget (talk) 17:16, 17 May 2021 (UTC)

 Not done: this is not the right page to request additional user rights. You may reopen this request with the specific changes to be made and someone will add them for you, or if you have an account, you can wait until you are autoconfirmed and edit the page yourself.  ‑‑ElHef (Meep?) 17:22, 17 May 2021 (UTC)

A discussion is taking place to address the redirect I am speed. The discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2021 July 29#I am speed until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion.  ~~~~User:1234qwer1234qwer4 (talk) 20:19, 29 July 2021 (UTC)

Instead of the section saying Cars, Cars 2, Cars 3 put all those sections in a section called appearances we WP:DISNEY on how to make a good article about a Disney character. See also Elsa (Frozen), Simba, Anna (Frozen) for good examples of how to change this article. I can’t do this because I’m currently working on Sheriff Woody. Kaleeb18 (talk) 14:16, 9 November 2021 (UTC)

Overall, this article reads more like a grouping of movie summaries rather than information just about the character. Reference Master Chief (Halo) for a great example of an article that sticks to examining the character rather than getting lost in plot summaries. I'd like to hear thoughts from and collaborate with anyone actively interacting with this page.
I am planning to update/revamp this article. As it stands, there are large sections of the article dedicated to retellings or summaries of the movies and games Lightning McQueen appears in. As stated above by User:Kaleeb18, I will move most of this information into a new section, "Appearances." I will then reorganize the various traits presented throughout these summary sections and move them into characterization. The page will become much shorter, but I would argue it is far too long for what it should be.


### Moving Ahead with Edits
I began with the above edits. I plan to remove the 3 images of the Lightning toys and ice carving. I am hoping someone can find a verifiable concept sketch of Lightning to add to the "Characterization" section. I will continue in reforming the "Appearances" subsections to focus on Lightning rather than rehashing the movie plots. I am drawing from the example set by the Woody (Toy Story) and Master Chief (Halo) articles. JalepenoPoppr (talk) 21:26, 5 March 2022 (UTC)


### Opening up for further Development
Instead of removing the 3 images of Lightning as a toy and ice carving, it would be beneficial to create a "Cultural Impact" section to move these into. This section would focus on the use of this character in popular media and toy merchandise.

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for speedy deletion:

McQueen demo derby.jpg
You can see the reason for deletion at the file description page linked above. —Community Tech bot (talk) 22:52, 5 March 2022 (UTC)

When talking about the type of cars Lightning is based off of, it needs to be described correctly. Multiple times him/his inspiration is called a NASCAR.  There is no such thing as a NASCAR. NASCAR stands for the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. It is merely the sanctioning body over multiple racing series.  To say NASCAR car, model, etc. would be correct, but to call it a NASCAR is wrong. It would be even better to say this xyz car was used in the NASCAR xyz series from xyz to xyz. But not simply NASCAR unless you're talking about the organization as a whole. Dun Queen (talk) 02:52, 14 August 2022 (UTC)

Rustyback (talk) 15:32, 24 August 2022 (UTC)

The name "Montgomery" sourced in this page is unofficial. The only official name crediting this name refers to Lightning as "Monty". My theory, and one of the only possible explanations, is that someone was on a wiki and replaced the name Monty with Montgomery because "Monty is short for Montgomery so why just put the short version". However, many can assume that, but it is not his actual birth name like how I can name my child "Nathan" but his name is not Nathaniel, so if he had a wiki page, and someone changed his name, that would not be right. Grass block 6200 (talk) 11:19, 17 September 2022 (UTC)

 Not done for now: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the {{edit semi-protected}} template. This seems highly plausible, but, at this point, "Montgomery" appears to be the WP:STATUSQUO. ––FormalDude (talk) 07:23, 25 September 2022 (UTC)

I made an edit request on this before, and have not gotten a response back as far as I am aware, but McQueen's real name isn't Montgomery, there's not even a reference for that information, I do remember his name being "Monty" in the book Struck by Lightning but I don't know how the name Montgomery was normalized as his real name Grass block 6200 (talk) 04:47, 11 January 2023 (UTC)

 Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. Lightoil (talk) 08:43, 11 January 2023 (UTC)

I believe I made a request about this on a previous account and then a glitch occured of my IP address being banned or something. But, Lightning McQueen's name is M o n t y, not Montgomery, not anything more or less than Monty. You can see for yourself if you order the Disney book "Struck by Lightning" and read page 28. Thank you, have a nice day! ChickenChaff872 (talk) 19:23, 14 February 2023 (UTC)

 Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. — Paper9oll (🔔 • 📝) 13:18, 18 February 2023 (UTC)

You can see for yourself if you order the Disney book "Struck by Lightning" and read page 28. Thank you, have a nice day! ChickenChaff872 (talk) 13:52, 14 February 2023 (UTC)

 Already done.  It's already under the section Lightning McQueen#Notable miscellaneous appearances.  Thanks!

Hi everyone, I would just like to clarify the fact that "Lightning" is in fact McQueen's official current first name. In the book "Struck by Lightning", McQueen does say that "Lightning" was a nickname that he acquired, but when Mater tries to refer to McQueen by his original first name, McQueen corrects him saying that he doesn't use Monty as his first name anymore. McQueen's first name being "Monty" is actually a reference to the fact that McQueen's initial design was a generic Chevrolet Monte Carlo stock car (or a car that looked similar) named Monty McQueen. John Lasseter thought the design for the Monte Carlo stock car was to bland looking, so they redesigned McQueen to look like multiple sports cars mixed together. It was during this redesign that Lasseter thought "Lightning" would be a better first name for McQueen. So I don't think it's relevant or important to  officially refer to him as Montgomery Lightning McQueen in the top heading of his Wikipedia article when he no longer uses Montgomery as his official first name, especially since he is a fictional anthropomorphic vehicle. It should say something like "Lightning McQueen (originally Monty McQueen)", or the fact that his original name was Monty should be put under his characterization or just be kept in the subheading as trivia about him.DogeChallenger9003 (talk) 18:29, 1 April 2023 (UTC)

 Done -Lemonaka‎ 17:24, 23 June 2023 (UTC)


### Notable miscellaneous information
In the book Struck by Lightning, McQueen reveals that his original name is Montgomery (shorthanded to Monty), and that "Lightning" is a nickname that became his real name. This fact is a reference to series creator John Lasseter originally conceiving McQueen as a generic NASCAR styled stock car resembling a Chevrolet Monte Carlo named Monty McQueen. Lasseter thought the design was to flat and basic looking, so he decided to redesign McQueen to look like a mixing of multiple sports cars. It was during this redesign that Lasseter thought "Lightning" being McQueen's first name would suit the character better.
In this section, the sentence "Lasseter thought the design was to flat and basic looking, so he decided to redesign McQueen to look like a mixing of multiple sports cars.", the wrong "to" is used. It should read: "Lasseter thought the design was too flat..." Bduims (talk) 22:32, 22 June 2023 (UTC)

I love Lightning McQueen because my brother likes him 173.2.179.107 (talk) 20:11, 12 July 2023 (UTC)

Lightning Mcqueen Started His Racing Speedway, He Is A 2006 Custom Built Piston Cup Racer, Based On A Chevrolet Corvette C6, With 750-Horsepower, Only, Then He Gets Fired, Without Other Friends, About Francesco Bernoulli Gets Slower Then Mcqueen On Itally Race At The Final Lap. Thanks For Watching, If You Enjoyed This Video, Subscribe This Chanel, Leave A Like, And Activate The Little Bell.
2804:D41:C841:3600:65D1:C63:128:1E90 (talk) 00:28, 13 October 2023 (UTC)

Lightning Mcqueen has a lot of friends. Lightning and his friend Turbo race all the time. But they have never concluded that one or another is faster. 69.161.38.59 (talk) 13:45, 3 November 2023 (UTC)

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. Cannolis (talk) 18:39, 3 November 2023 (UTC)

Lightning McQueen has a more of a oval shaved body, 
There is no resemblance with 
A dodge viper or a Chevy corvette 
Which these cars are seem the be under the aerodynamics in shape and size. Lightning McQueen seems to have a body like a Chevy Camero which this car is a bulk like; oval shape around the back and front. 2600:1004:B163:8648:28BF:5CA5:1204:5BF5 (talk) 15:34, 22 November 2023 (UTC)

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. JTP (talk • contribs) 07:35, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

change "he has a curvaceous body like that of the Plymouth Superbird and Dodge Charger Daytona" to "he has a curvaceous body like that of the Chevrolet Corvette c7 and the SR II Dodge Viper GTS" YabOIcARSFAN69 (talk) 12:53, 9 December 2023 (UTC)

 Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. Shadow311 (talk) 18:03, 10 December 2023 (UTC)

Montgomery "lightning" McQueen is without a doubt a 90s to 2000s monte carlo because of the fact that he is based off a NASCAR stock car from around the time being of course the chevy monte carlo. He has a cartoonishly exaggerated version of the cars body style with a raised back bumper and two seater arrangement. Also like many other characters from the same world his name alludes to what car he is Montgomery or "monty" and monte carlo. Lexicon102 (talk) 22:50, 27 March 2024 (UTC)

The padlock icon is missing 125.160.113.243 (talk) 08:17, 16 April 2024 (UTC)

 Done '''[[User:CanonNi]]''' (talk|contribs) 08:22, 16 April 2024 (UTC)

This review is transcluded from Talk:Lightning McQueen/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Nominator: Fieryninja (talk · contribs) 07:39, 19 May 2024 (UTC)
Reviewer: Heidi Pusey BYU (talk · contribs) 19:31, 20 May 2024 (UTC)

Thank you for nominating this article for GA. My name is Heidi, and I'm paid by BYU to edit Wikipedia. I will be the one reviewing this article. Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 19:31, 20 May 2024 (UTC)
Fieryninja, this article is ready to be approved for GA. Congratulations! Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 21:11, 23 May 2024 (UTC)


### Well-written:
Y a. The prose is clear, concise, and understandable to an appropriately broad audience; spelling and grammar are correct; and
Y b. it complies with the Manual of Style guidelines for lead sections, layout, words to watch, fiction, and list incorporation.


### Verifiable with no original research:
Ya. It contains a list of all references (sources of information), presented in accordance with the layout style guideline;
Yb. reliable sources are cited inline. All content that could reasonably be challenged, except for plot summaries and that which summarizes cited content elsewhere in the article, must be cited no later than the end of the paragraph (or line if the content is not in prose);
Yc. it contains no original research; and
Yd. it contains no copyright violations or plagiarism.


### Broad in its coverage:
Ya. it addresses the main aspects of the topic; and
Yb.it stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail.


### Neutral:
Y a. it represents viewpoints fairly and without editorial bias, giving due weight to each.


### Stable
Y a. it does not change significantly from day to day because of an ongoing edit war or content dispute.
Illustrated, if possible, by media such as images, video, or audio:
Ya. media are tagged with their copyright statuses, and valid non-free use rationales are provided for non-free content; and
Yb. media are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions.


### General writing
The writing is generally well-done, but I do have some suggestions and questions:

In the lede it mentions McQueen’s role in Cars 1, but it doesn’t actually say it was in Cars 1. I’d recommend mentioning that, since Cars 2 and 3 are mentioned. Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 19:08, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
Also in lede: maybe make the mention of NASCAR commentary less general. Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 19:08, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
“[T]he animators worked to improve their expressions, such as smiling, where the lower lids had to be pulled up slightly to connect to the mouth.” This is confusing. Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 19:08, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
Both Characterization and Design summarize the process of designing the cars. Is it possible to do some condensing and combine them into one section? Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 19:08, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
The summary for Cars 2 says Axelrod is “the mastermind behind the plot”, but doesn’t specify what the plot is. This would be a good thing to add. Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 19:08, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
“Story supervisor Bob Peterson said that they took one athlete's response to the question of how to know when it is time to change by putting it in the film: ‘The kids will tell you.’” I don’t feel like this adds much to the article. We've already read about how athletes have different approaches to aging, and I feel like this doesn't enhance that idea. Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 18:30, 22 May 2024 (UTC)


### Sources
“In Cars, he sports bright red paint to go with his cocky attitude and he has stickers for headlights.” The source does not mention the paint as relating to his attitude. It says his stickers are reflective of his attitude. Please fix this to more accurately represent the source. Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 19:19, 22 May 2024 (UTC)
“In Cars 3, his design varies, beginning the film with an updated Rust-Eze logo” (emphasis mine). This is a little too close to what the source says: “With five Piston Cup wins to his credit, Lightning McQueen (left, voiced by Owen Wilson) begins 'Cars 3' sporting an updated Rust-eze logo” (emphasis mine). The first part of the sentence is fine, but the end of the sentence is exactly the same as that in the source. Consider replacing “updated” with “new” and/or “logo” with “design”. However, if it proves difficult to rephrase the last part of the sentence, the review won’t be affected. This is just more of a nit-picky thing.
Hello Heidi Pusey BYU and thanks for reviewing this article. I have actioned all of the above comments, except for the comment about merging the design and characterization sections. This is because one section was written to focus on the character's appearance, while the other is about his personality and character development. They are both chunky sections so I would prefer to keep them separate. I won't be available to respond to this review next week, so if you have further comments/changes, I can action until the weekend but will then continue it from 3 June. Fieryninja (talk) 12:49, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
That's fine! Thank you for explaining about those sections. Also, I'm expecting to be finished with the review within the next couple days (if not today). Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 17:20, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
Thank you for making those changes. The part about smiling and eyelids is no longer confusing, so thank you for rephrasing that. Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 17:28, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
I was taking a look at the Animation World Network sources used for McQueen's appearances in Cars short films. Most of them are fine, since they link to news releases. However, the one for Mater and the Ghostlight links to a blog post within Animation World Network. We have to be careful about using blog posts as sources. I brought this up on the Sources Noticeboard, asking if it was allowed in this situation. I have not yet received an answer. As such, I am going to follow my best judgment and ask that you replace the blog post with this press release or another similar source. (This link seems to have similar information to the current source.) Even if you could find a news report in Animation World Network like you did what was done for the other ones, that would be great. I'm sorry about any inconvenience this may cause. Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 18:52, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
Sources are few on this one. Animation World Network is a reliable source but I'm not sure about the blog section, so I have replaced it with a ScreenRant reference, which is an acceptable source. Fieryninja (talk) 20:36, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
I should have mentioned as well that we can't use primary sources such as the Pixar press release for Good Articles. Fieryninja (talk) 20:41, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
Thank you for taking care of that. And I'm sorry about the source I suggested. Thanks for letting me know so I don't make that mistake again! Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 21:11, 23 May 2024 (UTC)