Racer 01

Racer 01 is a character in the The Rookie and the Cars comics. He is a muscle car who raced under the sponsorship of Rust-eze before suffering a career-jeopardizing crash and retiring. Lightning McQueen superseded him as the Rust-eze racer, beginning with the Beachside 500 at the Beachside Speedway.
He first started his racing career in the late 50s. When he was young, he and Darrell Cartrip enjoyed driving in the woods while smuggling moonshine oil. Sheriff often found them and tried to pursue them. He later moved to Radiator Springs, and at one point competed in the Radiator Springs Rally.
He resembles a 1967 Pontiac Firebird muscle car with a red and green livery.
==Appearances==
*The Rookie, vol. 2
*Cars, vol. 1
*Cars, vol. 2
*Cars, vol. 3
==Gallery==
Cars 02 rev 03.jpg|Cars, vol. 1
Sammy.png|Cars, vol. 1
Sammy 2.png|Cars, vol. 3
File:Racer 01's hauler.png|Presumably Racer 01's hauler.
==Trivia==
*In some illustrations he is missing the Rust-eze logo on his hood. This could possibly be because of the fact that he stopped competing for Rust-eze after retiring.
*He appeared as a racer when Doc tried rejoining the Piston Cup (likely late 50s and early 60s), however his model resembles a car from 1967.
*Despite retiring, he does however appear in the the 7-issue Cars comic racing in the Radiator Springs Speedway race which implies that he hasn't completely stopped racing and that he just joined for a special occasion.
*He is similar to Racer 67 who may be another incarnation of him, but maybe not.
Category:Book-only characters
Category:Muscle cars
Category:Team members
Category:Racers
Category:Piston Cup racers
Category:1950s racers
Category:Rust-eze
Category:Vintage cars
Category:Unnamed characters