Montgomery M McQueen

The Lightning McQueen, also known by his birthname Monty M McQueen nor Montgomery M McQueen --or-- his nickname Stickers, given by Sally, is the main character of the entire Cars series, appearing in nearly every installment except the Planes franchise. He is a stock car that competes in the Piston Cup Racing Series since 2005, where is was sponsored by Rust-eze, using the number 95, and won seven Piston Cup championships. In 2017, he became the trainer and crew chief of Cruz Ramirez for the Dinoco Piston Cup team for sometime. Then he continued racing. He resides in Radiator Springs in Arizona, United States of America, where his racing headquarters is located. He is in a relationship with Sally Carrera.
== History ==
=== Background ===
Towards the start of his racing career, McQueen raced under the sponsorship of Smell Swell Deodorizer. However, he was fired in favor of another young rookie racer named Sammy Smelter, whose poor racing fit the image of Smell Swell better, according to the representative who fired McQueen. Mack, who had overheard McQueen's termination, approached the young hotshot and offered to take him to Boston to meet for a job opportunity with Rust-eze, who had been looking, with little success, for a new spokescar. During their trip, McQueen and Mack became fast friends. Upon their arrival in Boston, Rusty and Dusty Rust-eze offered a sponsorship to McQueen. Though he was initially hesitant due to the sponsor's humiliating demeanor, McQueen agreed as long as Mack could become his transporter. McQueen's racing abilities eventually garnered the attention of the Piston Cup Racing Series, and he became a rookie in the championship's 2005 season.
=== Cars ===
In Cars, the film opens at the Motor Speedway of the South, where cocky and self-centered Lightning McQueen is competing in the Dinoco 400 for the title of the Piston Cup champion. After a three-way tie between him, seven-time champion Strip Weathers and consistent runner-up Chick Hicks, Chick makes a bet with McQueen, where the first one to reach the tie-breaker race at the Los Angeles International Speedway wins the Dinoco sponsorship. Desperate to win, McQueen rushes to Mack, who forces him to make an appearance at his sponsor's tent, which McQueen hates. Soon, the two are on the road, and McQueen urges Mack to drive through the night, without resting. A sleepy Mack is later harassed by a gang of delinquents, who accidentally open McQueen's trailer unknowingly releasing him. Lightning wakes up in the middle of the highway and quickly tries to catch up with Mack. However, after mistaking a Peterbilt truck for him, McQueen figures his best option is to search for help on the Interstate. McQueen rushes past a sleeping police officer named Sheriff, who chases him through a nearby town. Scared, McQueen accidentally knocks over a bunch of cans at Flo's, scratches Ramone's paint, knocks over Luigi's tires, and rips up the road with a statue of the town's founder, which ultimately lands him in the town's impound. When he wakes in the morning, he discovers he is in the deserted town of Radiator Springs, where the angry residents sentence him to community service and make him fix the road by pulling a road paver named Bessie. Persistent of making it to Los Angeles before Chick, Lightning first attempts to escape, but runs out of gas and is returned to the town, where he tries to fix the road quickly. The residents feel disrespected due to the rushed bumpy road, and Doc Hudson, the town's lawyer and doctor, challenges him to a road race, which Lightning loses, due to lack of familiarity with dirt tracks. Though initially hesitant to affiliate himself with the townsfolk, Lightning ends up making friends with the residents, particularly the absent-minded Mater, and the beautiful attorney Sally Carrera, whom Lightning quickly gains a crush on. After learning of the history behind both the town and Doc Hudson, who was previously a famous Piston Cup dirt track racer, Lightning begins to marvel at Doc's skill and the certain racing tricks that Doc knows. After taking a drive with Sally, Lightning finds Doc out at Willy's Butte. Later, McQueen finishes the road, and while the townsfolk originally think he left without saying goodbyes, McQueen surprises the residents by arriving and asking for a new paint job and new tires. That night, while enjoying a "cruise" with the residents, the press find McQueen and take him away to the tie-breaker race. At the race, McQueen is surprised to see his Radiator Springs friends have arrived to serve as his racing team and Doc as his crew chief, and with the help of his team, especially Guido, who performs the quickest pit stop in Piston Cup history, Lightning finds himself well ahead of Chick and The King. However, sick of constantly coming in second, Chick performs a PIT maneuver on Weathers, causing him to spin out and crash. When McQueen remembers Doc's words about winning, Lightning gives up his victory and instead decides to help Strip to the finish line so that Strip can finish his final race, much to the happiness of the fans. Though Chick technically won the race, he is ignored, and instead, fans congratulate McQueen. Lightning decides to permanently establish Radiator Springs as his hometown, and the publicity sparks great interest in the town.
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Lightning is running in the race to win the Piston Cup, with the incentive that the winner would be the replacement for Dinoco's old mascot, Strip Weathers, who was retiring. However, during the race, he denies tire changes from his pit crew, requesting only gas. But about 100 yards from his Piston Cup, his back tires blow out. Rather than winning the race, he barely manages a tie with Strip Weathers and Chick Hicks. His pit crew abandon him after he tells "Not Chuck", one of his members, to get out of the camera shot. Strip Weathers (also known as "The King") admonishes him for his overconfidence and lack of teamwork, but Lightning does not listen because he is lost in thought about the joys of working for Dinoco. Afterwards, he is forced to go into his sponsor Rust-eze’s (a company that sells a rust-cleaning product) tent that is full of rusty old cars, which Lightning hates. He then has a talk with his agent Harv, who explains how he got tickets for Lightning to give to his friends, but Lightning is unable to respond to this due to the fact that he has no friends. Now on his way to the tie-breaker race in Los Angeles, Lightning orders his driver Mack to drive all night, but he inevitably falls asleep. Lightning ends up lost in a little ghost-town called Radiator Springs and after tearing up their main road, he is sentenced to community service to repair the road. While he is in town, he meets a selection of cars, most notably being Doc Hudson and Sally Carrera. Although at first rude to Doc, McQueen does find out his past as a Hudson Hornet who won 3 Piston Cups until a devastating crash put him out of season which caused him to be replaced by a rookie. With Sally, the two take a drive and McQueen begins to learn about Radiator Springs past and how it used to become a landmark until the interstate highways took over. As a result, he soon comes to realize how arrogant and selfish he has been and that there is more to racing than just winning and what people in the real world have gone through in their lives. He also makes friends with every car in town, especially Mater, a rusty tow truck who chooses him as his best friend, even going Tractor Tipping with him and showing his signature backwards move. At the end of the film, Lightning, Chick Hicks, and The King vie for the Piston Cup in a tiebreaker race in Los Angeles. During the race, he thinks about his new friends which cause him to spin out off the track, but regains confidence when he finds out that Mater, Luigi, Guido, Fillmore, Sarge, along with Doc Hudson who has acted as McQueen's new crew chief arrived to support him. McQueen even learned new tricks in the race when Chick Hicks plays dirty such as driving backwards and doing Doc Hudson's signature move when he goes out on the grass once more. Lightning is about to win the race by several car lengths when The King is wrecked badly by Hicks. Lightning is reminded of Doc Hudson's horrible crash that brought an end to his career and unable to bear the thought of something similar happening again, he abruptly skids to a stop just in front of the finish line, allowing Chick to win the title. Humbily accepting his loss, Lightning heads back down the track to save The King and help him across the finish line to give him a respectable finish for his final race, coming in third place, a best finish for him much to the crowd's amazement. Impressed by his good sportsmanship, Dinoco offers the contract to be their mascot to Lightning rather than the now unpopular Chick Hicks, but Lightning turns it down, saying he needs to complete his contract with Rust-eze, the company who gave him his big break, first. He then sets up headquarters in Radiator Springs, drawing attention back to the little town and making it popular again and simultaneously returning it to the map. In the process, Route 66 becomes a historical tourist attraction.
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Lightning is a red racecar sponsored by Rust-eze Medicated Bumper Ointment ("With Just a Little Rust-eze, you can look like Lightning McQueen!"). Lightning's model is a 2006 hand-built stock racing car - one of a kind. He is number 95 in the movie, and at the beginning of the movie, he is racing in the final race of the 2006 Piston Cup Series in Nashville, Tennessee. McQueen is one of the three cars in the field capable of winning the Piston Cup Championship. Winning the Piston Cup would make McQueen the first ever rookie to do so. luckily for him, he is leading near the end of the race. However, when he foolishly refused a new set of tires, causing his current rear ones to blow out on the final lap. He narrowly sticks his tongue out, making a three-way tie with the other 2 cars in contention for the Championship, Strip "The King" Weathers and Chick Hicks. At first, Lightning is obnoxious, selfish, and rude to everyone, having fired three crew chiefs and treating his pit crew like garbage to the point where they had enough and furiously quit. Lightning later talks with Weathers who praises him for his talent and guts, but criticizes him for his "one-man deal" attitude. Weathers advises that he needs a good crew and a good chief behind him. Lightning's attention drifts towards getting the Dinoco sponsorship he craves so he does not pay full attention. On the way to Los Angeles, CA for the tie-breaker race, he selfishly makes his transporter Mack drive all night offering to stay awake with him only to fall asleep shortly after. A quartet of tuner cars harass Mack and bump his trailer, causing the racecar to fall out. When Lightning wakes up he notices that Mack is gone, and tries to follow him only to lose him in the process, and after a turn of events including almost being hit by a train and running into a grumpy Peterbilt, ends up in Radiator Springs where he accidentally tears up the main road and is arrested by Sheriff, who then tells him, "Boy, you're in a heap of trouble." The next morning, Lightning is put on trial, where the town judge Doc Hudson is ready to throw the book at Lightning. The second he takes one look at him, he instead wants him out of town and dismisses the case. A lawyer named Sally Carrera shows up and Lightning is immediately taken with her. Sally convinces Doc that fixing the road is the best thing for the town, so Lightning is sentenced to fix the road using a road paving machine named Bessie. Lightning attempts to escape, but Sheriff siphoned his fuel while he was in the impound, forcing him to stay. Lightning is so desperate to leave that he runs Bessie at full speed. This results in a bumpy and uneven road. Doc makes a wager with him: if Lightning can beat him in a one lap race around Willy's Butte, then he wins his freedom; if he loses, he has to scrape off the botched asphalt and start over. Lightning immediately leaves Doc - who does not even move - in the dust. He fails to make a hard left turn in the dirt and winds up in a cactus patch, costing him the race. As he resumes paving, Lightning is so miserable that he refuses the town when they offer him anything. Doc takes pleasure in his suffering for some reason. On the second day, the town sees that Lightning finished about a third of the road. Doc meets with Sheriff at Willy's Butte to find Lightning trying to make the hard left turn he couldn't do. Doc sends Sheriff away and advises Lightning on making the turn. Lightning does not get the advice and winds up in another cactus patch. Later on, Guido fixes a slow leak in his tires and spins them to get rid of any cacti as a thank you for paving the road so well. Red then hoses him off on Sally's orders. She offers him to stay the night at the Cozy Cone Motel, an offer Lightning is too happy to accept. It seems Sally is taken with him as well. Also, the look of the new road has inspired the townsfolk to repaint and fix up their businesses. That night, the local tow truck Mater is put in charge of watching Lightning and takes him tractor tipping. Lightning does not think much of it but revs his engine, causing every tractor to tip. The two have a good laugh and barely outrun a bull-like harvester named Frank. On their way back, Mater teases him about his feelings for Sally and then shows off his incredible backwards-driving skills. Mater inquires about Lightning's big race and learns about the Dinoco sponsorship Lightning wants. Lightning mentions that it would come with access to helicopters which gets Mater to ask for a helicopter ride if he gets the deal. Lightning says he would get him a ride which leads Mater to say he made a good choice in picking Lightning as his best friend, a gesture he is touched by. Sally overheard that, telling Lightning that Mater trusts him, implying he should not take that lightly. The next morning, Lightning is waiting for his daily gas ration only to wander into Doc's garage. To his surprise he finds three Piston Cups and a newspaper article revealing that Doc Hudson is really the Fabulous Hudson Hornet, a three-time Piston Cup champion and record holder for the most wins in a single season. Doc finds him and kicks him out, saying the trophies are "a bunch of empty cups." Lightning tells the rest of the town about Doc but they laugh at the idea. Sally shows up and fills up his tank, asking him to take a drive with her. For a moment, Lightning considers making a run for it, but he follows Sally. The two drive through a forest and mountains. Lightning is awestruck at the natural beauty of the area. They stop at the now-closed Wheel Well Motel where Sally reveals she was once a lawyer who was unhappy with her life. She broke down near Radiator Springs. Sally was fixed up by Doc and taken in by Flo and the rest of the town. She fell in love with the place and moved there. Sally explains that Route 66 was the main road around there and Radiator Springs was a popular tourist stop. All that changed when Interstate 40 was built forty years prior, bypassing the town and causing both the town and the highway to fall off the map entirely. She hopes that they will get it back on the map one day. After McQueen returns to the town, multiple tractors come stampeding in. Lightning goes off to round up a stray heading towards Willy's Butte. He unexpectedly finds Doc wearing his racing tires showing off his skills. Doc uses a technique called drifting to make the turn Lightning couldn't do. Lightning then confronts Doc as to why he would quit at the top of his game. Doc corrects him showing him a newspaper article of a major crash he suffered in 1954 in the final lap of the Piston Cup finals. After missing an entire season he returned only for his sponsors to turn their backs on him in favor of the next rookie in line. Doc vowed never to go back, which explains why he wanted Lightning thrown out. Lightning claims he is not like those who turned their backs on him but when Doc presses him on a time he thought about anyone besides himself, he cannot answer. Doc does not want the townsfolk depending on someone like him, but Lightning retorts that Doc is no better by hiding the truth about his past. Doc only tells him to finish the road so he can leave. The next day, everyone wakes up to see the road is finished. Except for Doc, they are upset that Lightning seemingly left without saying goodbye, but then he shows up to their delight. Sheriff offers him a police escort to Los Angeles but he declines. Lightning has decided to help the town by being their customer: he buys a set of whitewall tires from Luigi and Guido, Fillmore's organic fuel, a set of night-vision goggles from Sarge, some bumper stickers from Lizzie and finally a custom paint job from Ramone. Also, the townsfolk fixed up their neon signs as a result of the new road. A cruise party breaks out that night. While Lightning and Sally are together, a swarm of press shows up. Mack arrives too and apologizes for losing him. Before he leaves, Sally thanks him for everything, wishing him luck in the race. Lightning gets into Mack's trailer but he is sad to leave, having bonded with everyone in Radiator Springs. Sally is angered to learn that it was Doc who tipped off the press about Lightning. Doc says it is best for everyone, but Sally can clearly see that Doc had done it for himself, proving Lightning right about his selfishness. The day of the race arrives. Lightning prepares for the race with Mack is his pit crew. Lightning has troubles as he cannot stop thinking about Sally and Radiator Springs, causing him to lose a lap. He then gets a surprise when he hears Doc - who is wearing his old racing colors - acting as his crew chief. Most of the town is there serving as his pit crew while Sally, Red, and Lizzie stayed behind to watch in town. With renewed focus, Lightning starts to make up the lost lap. He makes good use of backwards driving to overcome Hicks' dirty tactics. Lightning suffers a flat tire but Guido makes a record-breaking pit stop to get him back out there in time to beat the pace car. Hicks again plays dirty by knocking him onto the grass but the drifting technique allows Lightning to take the lead in the final lap. McQueen is on the verge of winning the Piston Cup. However, an angry Hicks who refuses to finish behind King again, violently kicks him out, which causes King to suffer a major crash. Lightning was about to win, but after seeing the King crash onscreen, he realized that the same thing that happened to Doc will happen to him. So, McQueen stopped at the finish line after this, but he allowed Chick Hicks to pass through. He reverses and pushes The King across the finish line so he can end his career with dignity. The crowd erupts in cheers for the two racers. Hicks is condemned by the fans and the media. The King's wife Lynda kisses Lightning in gratitude for what he did for her husband. Lightning is praised for his good sportsmanship so much that Tex Dinoco offers him the Dinoco sponsorship. Lightning and The King were the winners, and the officials declined the Piston Cup for Chick Hicks. Lightning realized that helping others is more important than fame. Though it is everything Lightning ever dreamed of, he politely declines to stay with his Rust-eze sponsors as they had given him his big break. Tex respects his decision and says that he will be willing to do a favor for him. Lightning cashes in that favor by arranging for Mater to have a helicopter ride. Lightning then decides to establish his racing headquarters in Radiator Springs, putting the town back on the map. Lightning gets a new look, which is Ramone's custom job but with the Rust-eze logo, his racing tires, and a circular black and white 95 logo. He meets with Sally at the Wheel Well, telling her he missed her. They start a relationship as they race back to Flo's. Doc takes him under his wing, showing him some new tricks.
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Lightning McQueen is a racer participating in the Piston Cup. McQueen is sponsored by Rust-eze Medicated Bumper Ointment, which uses the catchphrase, "With Just a Little Rust-eze, you can look like Lightning McQueen!" However, he secretly disdains Rust-eze, and hopes to be chosen for sponsorship by the much more glamorous and successful Dinoco oil company. He is certain Dinoco will offer to sponsor him if he wins the prized Piston Cup. At the beginning of the film, McQueen is portrayed as being ungrateful, obnoxious, selfish, and sarcastic. It is noted that he previously fired three crew chiefs. During a pit stop, he foolishly refuses the advice of his pit crew to replace his tires because he wants to remain in the lead. As a result, both rear tires blow out on the last lap. He narrowly avoids losing the race when he sticks his tongue out, leading to a three-way tie with Strip "The King" Weathers and Chick Hicks. He subsequently insults his pit crew, leading them to furiously and suddenly resign. Preparing to leave for California for a tie-breaker race, McQueen begins to realize he has no true friends. En route, he selfishly forces his big rig, Mack, to drive through the night, so they can reach California before their competitors. McQueen quickly falls asleep, therefore breaking his promise to stay awake with Mack. In turn, Mack becomes exhausted himself. After an unfortunate encounter with a quartet of tuner cars, McQueen becomes separated from Mack, and speeds through the night in a desperate search of Mack, only to end up lost in Radiator Springs, a forgotten town along U.S. Route 66, where he is soon arrested and impounded. In Radiator Springs, McQueen awakens, and finds himself being taken to court for ruining the road of Radiator Springs. The local judge, Doc Hudson, orders McQueen to leave town immediately, but the other townsfolk, including its local attorney, Sally Carrera, vote to have McQueen repave the road as a show of power for community service, in which Doc agrees with. McQueen is then ordered to repave the road, but instead, he attempts to escape town. He is quickly recaptured and forced to repave the road in order to regain his freedom. He doesn't do it properly at first, but to take a break, he tries to accept help from Doc, but blows him off. In the process, McQueen learns about the history of Radiator Springs and begins to relate to its inhabitants. A tow truck named Tow Mater befriends him, and he falls in love with Sally. He also reveals an unusual history about Doc, who is revealed to be a former Piston Cup champion, whose racing career ended after a serious crash. After repaving the road, and staying there, McQueen is free to leave Radiator Springs, and resume his journey to California. However, he selflessly delays his departure to show appreciation for his new friends by performing good deeds. During his time at Radiator Springs, McQueen's personality slowly begins to change. He begins to care about others rather than just himself and no longer disrespects them. He also isn't as cocky as he once was while on the race track. During the tie-breaker race in California, McQueen is unable to stop thinking of Radiator Springs and his new friends, causing him to lose focus. Soon, he is surprised to see that Doc Hudson and some of his friends have followed him and taken on the role of his pit crew. Inspired by words of encouragement from Doc, McQueen races with renewed confidence. When Hicks attempts to knock him off course, he recovers by proudly performing moves he learned from Doc (particularly Doc Hudson's special "turn"), and Mater's skills, while McQueen was initially in Radiator Springs. During the final lap, the Piston Cup is clearly within McQueen's grasp. Hicks, realizing he is about to finish in last place, strikes Weathers from behind, sending him to a dangerous crash. On the track's Jumbotron, McQueen witnesses the crash behind him, which is reminiscent of the crash that ended Doc's career 52 years before. In order to help Weathers finish his last race, McQueen stops suddenly before reaching the finish line, essentially forfeiting the win. McQueen is nonetheless praised for his selfless sportsmanship, so much so that Dinoco Race Team owner Tex offers to hire him to succeed Weathers. McQueen declines, realizing that he should stay with his Rust-eze sponsors in appreciation for managing to get him where he was. Tex respects his decision and instead offers to do him favors any time he needs it. McQueen uses a favor to gain a ride on the Dinoco helicopter for Mater, fulfilling Mater's dream. McQueen returns to Radiator Springs to establish his racing headquarters, putting the town back on the map and bringing success to all his friends. He resumes his relationship with Sally and becomes Hudson's pupil.
=== Mater and the Ghostlight ===
In Mater and the Ghostlight, McQueen is one of the many who fall victim to Mater's pranks. While talking to Sally at Flo's V8 Café, McQueen inspects a pile of cans in the shape of Mater, but once he gets closer, Mater bursts through the stack, scaring McQueen. Mater teases Lightning, claiming he looks as if he has seen the Ghostlight. Sheriff warns Mater not to joke about the Ghostlight, and everyone listens as Sheriff tells a story about the mysterious creature. When Sheriff finishes, everyone hurries to sleep, leaving Mater alone in the streets. Mater returns home, paranoid about the Ghostlight. Once he reaches his garage, he discovers a blue light behind him, and Mater starts frantically driving around Radiator Springs. Unbeknownst to Mater, the light is actually just a lamp that McQueen and Guido placed on his tow hook as payback for his pranks. Once Mater loses his breath, he slows down and realizes the light is merely a lamp. McQueen and the other residents tease him, before hurriedly heading to sleep once more.
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Lightning appears in the short, seen at Flo's V8 Cafe with the rest of the townsfolk. Seeing a tow hook behind some cans, he starts to think that it belongs to Mater, and hopes that he would not be planning to scare him. However, Mater then jumps out of nowhere and freaks Lightning out, causing him to jump and knock down the rest of the cans, revealing that it was only one of Mater's signs. Mater tells Lightning that he looked like he had seen the ghostlight, to which Sheriff then tells the townsfolk a story about a couple who disappeared after coming across the ghostlight. He then informs the residents to keep their eye out for the ghostlight, before everyone, except Mater, quickly leave and say goodnight. Shortly after arriving at his home, Mater notices a blue light behind him, believing it to be the ghostlight, and drives away in fright. It then turns out to be a prank, as Lightning and Guido have actually put a lantern on Mater's tow hook. Lightning and the townsfolk all watch as Mater continues driving around the town until he gets tired and eventually realizes what it actually was. Lightning and the others then laugh, to which Mater sarcastically says that he knew it was a prank all along. After Sheriff and Doc tell Mater to only be scared of his imagination and the Screamin' Banshee, McQueen and everyone else quickly leave Mater and drive back to their homes to sleep.
=== Cars 2 ===
In Cars 2, the direct sequel to Cars, Lightning McQueen returns, but as the deuteragonist. In the film, having won his fourth Piston Cup, McQueen comes back to Radiator Springs to take a well-long break and spend the whole summer doing tons of activities with Mater. After just one day full of crazy activities, McQueen decides to just have a date with Sally for the evening, though Mater volunteers to be their waiter at the Wheel Well Motel. While fetching their drinks, Mater finds formula racer Francesco Bernoulli interviewed on the Mel Dorado Show bragging about being faster than McQueen any day, and calls in to the show to have a talk with Francesco. McQueen catches eye, and upon hearing Francesco make insults about Mater himself, even learning from Sally that she also likes Francesco for his open wheels, takes over the call to talk things out with Francesco. Miles Axlerod, an oil billionaire who happened to be on the show too, invites McQueen to take part in his World Grand Prix competition, alongside Francesco, in order to promote his new renewable fuel, allinol, to the entire world, and McQueen gladly agrees. Also, amidst advice from Sally, he decides to take Mater along, having not brought him to any of his races, and make him his crew chief, now that Doc had passed away. In preparation, Ramone gives Lightning a fancy new paint job and spoiler, and Lightning, Mater, Luigi, Guido, Sarge, and Fillmore set off for Tokyo, which is where the welcome party is being hosted, as well as the first race. On the journey, McQueen and Mater are enjoying their time together: watching a game show on their plane's television, amazed by Tokyo's neon signs, and attending a karate show. At the opening ceremony, McQueen meets up with fellow racers Lewis Hamilton and Jeff Gorvette, but he soon notices that Mater has been acting the same since living in Radiator Springs, and tries to explain that he should change his behavior so to get used to all the different things outside Radiator Springs. However, Mater does not completely understand, deciding to help McQueen by introducing him to Italian racer Francesco Bernoulli. Although reluctant by this, McQueen is forced to mention to Francesco that it is an honor for them to meet. They both agree to have a toast, but both of them make the same dedication of their own win in the initial race to Sally. Lightning is later asked to take the stage with Axlerod, but the interview is interrupted when Mater, who has just consumed a high amount of wasabi, bursts onto the stage, and drinks water from the display. Embarrassed, Mater is surprised to find out that he has leaked oil, and quickly hurries to the bathroom to clean up. However, an American secret agent who is being assaulted places his tracking beacon onto Mater. British agent Holley Shiftwell meets Mater, and he thinks that she is asking him out on a date. Moments before the first race begins, McQueen makes his usual preparations, closing his eyes and talking to himself about keeping focus, only for Francesco to immediately mock him by making the same preparations. Annoyed, McQueen once again comments about his goal to beat Francesco. As the race begins, McQueen makes his way up the field, getting up to second place and behind Francesco. However, McQueen is not able to get past Francesco until they come up to the dirt section, where Mater, who is working as McQueen's crew chief, gives him the advice of using the same trick Doc had taught him. With Francesco struggling to drive on the dirt, McQueen makes an easy pass at the following chicane and takes the lead. However, drama occurs as a couple of the racecars flame out, leaving fans wondering if Allinol is responsible for the accidents. Next, McQueen begins hearing random words from Mater through his team radio, unaware that Mater is actually talking to someone else. Still being confused by Mater's words, McQueen moves to the outside of the loop up to Rainbow Bridge, enabling Francesco to snatch the lead. Shocked by what happened, McQueen goes after Francesco and goes side-by-side with him as they head towards the finish line. However, Francesco is able to cross the finish line first, while McQueen suddenly spins out and finishes second. Feeling disappointed about the race results, McQueen is left wondering why this all happened, as Francesco brags during the podium interview about making a move whenever someone makes a mistake. Just then, McQueen notices Mater driving to the pits, and when no one is looking, he drives out of the podium interview and meets up with Mater, asking him why he was talking nonsense throughout the race. Mater explains that he had been away from the track because he heard a woman's voice talking to him out of nowhere and directing him through the streets, where he had seen a couple of cars involved in a fight and using flame-throwers. McQueen becomes mad, telling Mater that it is all his fault for making him fail the race and that he should not have brought him along so he could spend time imagining a girlfriend and watching people using flame-throwers in fights. Realizing what McQueen meant, Mater tries to make up by suggesting to talk to someone about what happened, but McQueen is growling, berating poor Mater by saying that he wouldn't need his help from him at all. poor Mater sadly gulped, and decides to return home, and heads to the Tokyo airport (unbeknownst to McQueen and his team). However, at the airport, Finn McMissile, who thinks Mater is a spy, leads him away from the line and introduces himself. However, two lemons named Grem and Acer, who are on the lookout for McMissile, spot him, and the two make an escape on Siddeley, Finn's plane. Meanwhile, Team McQueen finds a note from Mater saying that he has decided to head back home following his argument with McQueen, not wanting to be responsible ever again for making him losing any future races. However, McQueen begins to feel down, as he did not mean for Mater to leave. Despite being relieved that he would know Mater would be safe being in Radiator Springs, McQueen still feels down, thinking that he should not have been too hard on him. Arriving in Italy, McQueen and his team come across Luigi and Guido's old hometown, Carsoli, where the latter two are proud to be reunited with Uncle and Mama Topolino. The whole village hosts a celebration of Luigi and Guido's return, but Uncle Topolino begins to notice how down McQueen is. Having been told the whole thing by Luigi, Uncle Topolino explains to McQueen that everyone, even best friends, get into fights, as he remembers Luigi and Guido fighting all the time when they used to live with him. Meanwhile, many of the fans of the World Grand Prix are still wondering if Allinol is safe, leading to Axlerod telling them that the fuel has been examined and is proven to be safe, leaving the second race to remain, taking place in Porto Corsa. However, Team McQueen begins to notice that McQueen feels sad. Fillmore advises him not to worry about his fuel, but McQueen admits that he is actually missing Mater. Furthermore, he gets insulted by Francesco saying that he is glad to be at home with his mother and fans. As the race goes ahead, Francesco soars into the lead as McQueen follows, trying to make numerous moves such as at the town's hairpin. On the final lap, McQueen temporarily leads, but as they approach the finish line, he and Francesco begin fighting for the lead, ending with McQueen crossing the finish line just ahead of Francesco. With this, McQueen celebrates his victory, but it immediately ends as numerous ambulances rush past, making McQueen and Francesco notice on the television screen that the other racecars have involved a large crash, created by Grem and Acer's electromagnetic pulse camera, which blows their engines. This leads to everyone now completely concerned about its safety, which makes Axlerod decide that the last race in London will still be held, but no longer to be run on Allinol. McQueen, however, feels that it is impossible for something like that to occur, furthermore declaring that he will be using Allinol for the final race. Meanwhile, Mater, who has infiltrated the Lemons' meeting, watches in horror as they pick their next target, McQueen. Revealing himself, Mater uses his spy tools to escape. Soon, as a press liaison is leading him to the press, McQueen starts to hear Mater's voice from somewhere in the crowd. Taking another look, he sees a flash of Mater's roof in the distance, while the photographers try to get his attention. Trying to get closer, McQueen moves through the crowd, as the press liaison calls out to come back. However, as all the photographers finally move out of the way, McQueen instead finds a blue tow truck known as Ivan, saying that it was him who called out. As the press liaison takes him away, McQueen starts to get confused, pretty sure that he saw and heard Mater in the crowd. Before heading to London, McQueen contacts Radiator Springs so to talk to Mater, but he finds out that Mater had not been there at all. As he comes to his pit stall, he finds Sally and the rest of his friends present, having heard about what happened. While Sarge leaves with Sheriff to search for Mater, the rest of the townsfolk stay behind to assist McQueen in the race. However, still feeling concerned about Mater, McQueen is unsure about if he can keep his focus on the race, but Axlerod comes to thank him for his decision to use Allinol, encouraging him to prove to the world that they had been wrong about it being unsafe. Plus, Sally advises him to do the race for Mater. As the race begins, Francesco gets into the lead as they head up to the Victoria Memorial, but after they go through Admiralty Arch, McQueen snatches the lead. As McQueen soon comes in for his pit stop, he is glad to find Mater already there. However, in a panic, Mater drives onto the racetrack, ordering McQueen to keep away from him. Misunderstanding, McQueen chases after Mater, trying to tell him that what he said before no longer matters. Still panicking, Mater yells out that "he's the bomb", making McQueen believe that he is saying he is excellent. Again, Mater yells out to keep away, but McQueen refuses to listen, not wanting to lose Mater again, and grabs onto his tow hook, which causes Mater to activate a pair of rocket jets, making the two friends zoom along the track's straight, past a shocked Francesco, and go off the circuit at the following corner, zooming through the streets of London. However, McQueen declines Mater's request to let go, still not understanding what is going on. As the two friends finally screech to a halt, British secret agents Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell arrive, convincing McQueen that some thugs had planted a bomb on Mater so that they could try and kill them both, all because of McQueen's decision to use Allinol in the race. McQueen is left wondering who would do that to Mater, to which Finn brings in a captive Professor Zündapp, who angrily questions about his electromagnetic pulse generator not working right. McQueen is now left completely shocked by the fact that Zündapp had been having those same thugs try to kill him with the emitter when it was supposed to come into contact with allinol, only that he did not explode when the plan was being performed. Finn demands answers from Zündapp about how to deactivate the bomb, and as the bomb begins to tick, Zündapp reveals that the only way to turn it off is to get a voice command from the person who turned it on in the first place. To make matters worse, the thugs, who reveal themselves as lemons, block any chance of McQueen, Mater, Finn, and Holley escaping, but they are soon taken out by McQueen and Mater's friends. Sarge arrives with the British Military who presumably take the villains away. With the lemons arrested, everyone tries to figure out a way to get rid of the bomb. Thinking of only one option, Guido makes an attempt to unfasten the bolts, but his wheel gun would not fit. Then, Mater figures out who had put the bomb on, but he does not reveal it straight away, worried that no one will believe him, but McQueen encourages him, telling him to just be his regular self and that anyone not believing him should instead change themselves, not Mater himself. With no time to lose, Mater grabs McQueen and heads off to Buckingham Palace, where Axlerod is waiting with the Queen of England. With the Queen's bodyguards preventing Mater from getting any closer, Mater explains to them, McQueen, Finn and Holley that Axlerod is the one who activated the bomb, remembering that the bomb is attached with the same bolts used on an old engine shown on a photo that Finn and Holley had got, also that old engines contain oil. Axlerod, however, tries to tell everyone that none of this is true, but Mater keeps on talking, saying that Axlerod is the leader of Professor Zündapp and the lemons, trying to make the world dismiss alternative fuel and buy regular oil from a secret oil reserve, because they had been laughed at for their entire lives. As the bomb gets closer to detonation, everyone braces themselves, while Axlerod tries to take Mater's comments as lies, but as he is encountered by Mater, he is forced to make a voice command, which successfully turns off the bomb, and proves that Mater was right about everything. To congratulate his bravery, the Queen makes Mater a knight, which also makes him as popular as his best friend McQueen. As they arrive back in Radiator Springs, Mater tells McQueen and their friends about how he met Finn and Holley and helped them to learn information about Professor Zündapp and the lemons. Just then, Finn and Holley arrive, paying Mater and his friends a visit. McQueen is also given the time to ask how come he did not explode when the lemons were using their EMP emitter on him in London, but Finn and Holley point out that they do not know the reason, but also found out that allinol was just gasoline upgraded by Axlerod to blow up when coming into contact with an electromagnetic pulse. McQueen then begins to realize that Fillmore had told him back in Italy that allinol was safe, and everyone assumes that something had been done to McQueen's supply of Allinol before the race. Fillmore does note that before the race, McQueen's supply was replaced by his own organic fuel, but that Sarge actually did it, not Fillmore. Later, McQueen invites all of the World Grand Prix racers to compete in Radiator Springs' unofficial Grand Prix, as a way to treat them to a great race, even knowing that thanks to the fate of the World Grand Prix, still no one knows who is the fastest in the world. Before lining up on the grid, McQueen has Francesco meet Sally, who is honored by Francesco's comment about McQueen being very lucky to be racing, especially when racing against his rivals. Not long before the race, McQueen adds to Sally to wish him luck, to which Sally knows he will be lucky enough to win. This time, McQueen and Francesco are calmer towards each other, both having grins as they battle for the lead, while the other racers are enjoying it. Not long after, Mater joins in, having been given his rocket jets by Finn and Holley, and he and McQueen happily race each other to the end of the Radiator Springs Grand Prix, as Finn and Holley leave for their next mission.
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In the second film, Lightning returns, but as the deuteragonist. After he won his fourth Piston Cup, Lightning comes back to Radiator Springs, where the townsfolk are happy to see him return, including Mater. While Lightning is spending time at the Wheel Well Motel with Sally, Mater makes a call to the Mel Dorado Show when it features Miles Axlerod, who is aiming to promote a fuel called allinol for improving clean energy by hosting the World Grand Prix. Lightning intervenes and accepts the deal to be one of the racers, along with bringing Mater along following advice from Sally. Getting a new paint job for the World Grand Prix, Lightning travels to Tokyo with Mater, Luigi, Guido, Fillmore, and Sarge in time for the opening ceremony. On the journey, Lightning and Mater are enjoying their time together: watching a game show on their plane's television, amazed by Tokyo's neon signs, and attending a karate show. At the opening ceremony, Lightning meets up with fellow racers Lewis Hamilton and Jeff Gorvette, but he soon notices that Mater has been acting the same since living in Radiator Springs, and tries to explain that he should change his behavior so to get used to all the different things outside Radiator Springs. However, Mater does not completely understand, deciding to help Lightning by introducing him to Italian racer Francesco Bernoulli. Although reluctant by this, Lightning is forced to mention to Francesco that it is an honor for them to meet. They both agree to have a toast, but both of them make the same dedication of their own win in the initial race to Sally. Additionally, Lightning turns against Francesco, determined to beat him in the race the following day. To make matters worse, Lightning's interview with Axlerod in front of the press is disrupted by Mater rushing to the fountain after taking a huge amount of wasabi. McQueen gets even more worried when he sees what appears to be Mater leaking oil in public (which is actually Miles who did it), and orders him to go and sort himself out right away. Moments before the first race begins, Lightning makes his usual preparations, closing his eyes and talking to himself about keeping focus, only for Francesco to immediately mock him by making the same preparations. Annoyed, Lightning once again comments about his goal to beat Francesco. As the race begins, Lightning makes his way up the field, getting up to second place and behind Francesco. However, Lightning is not able to get past Francesco until they come up to the dirt section, where Mater, who is working as Lightning's crew chief, gives him the advice of using the same trick Doc had taught him. With Francesco struggling to drive on the dirt, Lightning makes an easy pass at the following chicane and takes the lead. However, drama occurs as a couple of the racecars flame out, leaving fans wondering if allinol is responsible for the accidents. Next, Lightning begins hearing random words from Mater through his team radio, unaware that Mater is actually talking to someone else who tampered with his radio, even asking her if she likes flowers. Still being confused by Mater's words, Lightning moves to the outside of the loop up to Rainbow Bridge, enabling Francesco to snatch the lead. Shocked by what happened, Lightning goes after Francesco and goes side-by-side with him as they head towards the finish line. However, Francesco is able to cross the finish line first, while Lightning finishes second. Feeling dissatisfied, Lightning is left wondering why this all happened, as Francesco brags during the podium interview about making a move whenever someone makes a mistake. Just then, Lightning notices Mater driving to the pits, and when no one is looking, he sneaks out of the podium interview and confronts Mater in their pit, asking him why he was talking nonsense throughout the race. Mater explains that he had been away from the track because he heard a woman's voice talking to him out of nowhere and directing him through the streets, where he had seen a couple of cars involved in a fight and using flame-throwers. Lightning is still enraged and doesn't believe those words, reprimanding Mater for his actions, telling him that it is all his fault for making him lose the race and that he should not have brought him along so he could spend time "imagining" a girlfriend and watching people using flame-throwers in fights. Realizing what Lightning meant, Mater tries to make up by suggesting to talk to someone about what happened and that he can help, but Lightning, still too angry, berates Mater, declaring that he does not need, rather want any help from him at all, and he storms off, leaving Mater heartbroken and guilty for what he has done. The next day, Lightning finds a note from Mater saying that he has decided to head back home following the confrontation, not wanting to be responsible ever again for making him losing any future races. However, Lightning becomes completely ashamed of himself, as he did not mean for Mater to leave. Despite being relieved that he would know Mater would be safe being in Radiator Springs, Lightning still regrets his outburst, thinking that he should not have been too hard on him. Arriving in Italy, Lightning and his team come across Luigi and Guido's old hometown, Carsoli, where the latter two are proud to be reunited with Uncle and Mama Topolino. The whole village hosts a celebration of Luigi and Guido's return, but Uncle Topolino begins to notice how down Lightning is. Having been told the whole thing by Luigi, Uncle Topolino explains to Lightning that everyone, even best friends, get into fights, as he remembers Luigi and Guido fighting all the time when they used to live with him. Meanwhile, many of the fans of the World Grand Prix are still wondering if allinol is safe, leading to Axlerod telling them that the fuel has been examined and is proven to be safe, leaving the second race to remain, taking place in Porto Corsa. However, Team Lightning McQueen begin to notice that Lightning feels sad. Fillmore advises him not to worry about his fuel, but Lightning admits that he is actually missing Mater. Furthermore, he gets insulted by Francesco saying that he is glad to be at home with his mother and fans. As the race goes ahead, Francesco soars into the lead as Lightning follows, trying to make numerous moves such as at the town's hairpin. On the final lap, Lightning temporarily leads, but as they approach the finish line, he and Francesco begin fighting for the lead, ending with Lightning crossing the finish line just ahead of Francesco. With this, Lightning celebrates his victory, but it immediately ends as numerous ambulances rush past, making Lightning and Francesco notice on the television screen that the other racecars have crashed out as a result of their fuel blowing up once again. This leads to everyone now completely concerned about its safety, which makes Axlerod decide that the last race in London will still be held, but no longer to be run on allinol. Lightning, however, feels that it is impossible for something like that to occur, furthermore declaring that he will be using allinol for the final race. Soon, as a press liaison is leading him to the press, Lightning starts to hear Mater's voice from somewhere in the crowd. Taking another look, he sees a flash of Mater's roof in the distance, while the photographers try to get his attention. Trying to get closer, Lightning moves through the crowd, as the press liaison calls out to come back. However, as all the photographers finally move out of the way, Lightning instead finds a blue tow truck known as Ivan, saying that it was him who called out. As the press liaison takes him away, Lightning starts to get confused, pretty sure that he saw and heard Mater in the crowd. Before heading to London, Lightning contacts Radiator Springs so to talk to Mater, but he finds out that Mater had not been there at all. As he comes to his pit stall, he finds Sally and the rest of his friends present, having heard about what happened. While Sarge leaves with Sheriff to search for Mater, the rest of the townsfolk stay behind to assist Lightning in the race. However, still feeling concerned about Mater, Lightning is unsure about if he can keep his focus on the race, but Axlerod comes to thank him for his decision to use allinol, encouraging him to prove to the world that they had been wrong about it being unsafe. Plus, Sally advises him to do the race for Mater. As the race begins, Francesco gets into the lead as they head up to the Victoria Memorial, but after they go through Admiralty Arch, Lightning snatches the lead. As Lightning soon comes in for his pit stop, he is glad to find Mater already there. However, in a panic, Mater drives onto the racetrack, ordering Lightning to keep away from him. Misunderstanding, Lightning chases after Mater, trying to tell him that what he said before no longer matters. Still panicking, Mater yells out that "he's the bomb", making Lightning believe that he is saying he is excellent. Again, Mater yells out to keep away, but Lightning refuses to listen, not wanting to lose Mater again, and grabs onto his tow hook, which causes Mater to activate a pair of rocket jets, making the two friends zoom along the track's straight, past a shocked Francesco, and go off the circuit at the following corner, zooming through the streets of London. However, Lightning declines Mater's request to let go, still not understanding what is going on. As the two friends finally screech to a halt, British secret agents Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell arrive, convincing Lightning that some thugs had planted a bomb on Mater so that they could try and kill them both, all because of Lightning's decision to use allinol in the race. Lightning is left wondering who would do that to Mater, to which Finn brings in a captive Professor Zündapp, who angrily questions Lightning about why his electromagnetic pulse generator didn't kill him. Lightning is now left completely shocked by the fact that Professor Z had a death ray ready for him. Finn demands answers from Zündapp about how to deactivate the bomb, and as the bomb begins to tick, Professor Z reveals that the only way to turn it off is to get a voice command from the person who turned it on in the first place and that person is not him and he is shocked unconscious. To make matters worse, the thugs, who reveal themselves as lemons, block any chance of Lightning, Mater, Finn, and Holley escaping, to make sure the bomb goes off as Lightning notes they are the ones who want him dead which they confirm but states its not personal. Luckily, everyone from Radiator Springs show up and helps them defeat the criminals. As the remaining lemons try to flee the area, Sarge appears with the British military who presumably take the villains into custody. With the lemons arrested, everyone tries to figure out a way to get rid of the bomb. Thinking of only one option, Guido makes an attempt to unfasten the bolts, but his wheel gun would not fit. Then, Mater figures out who had put the bomb on, but he does not reveal it straight away, worried that no one will believe him, but Lightning encourages him, telling him to just be his regular self and that anyone not believing him should instead change themselves, not Mater himself, and the two reconcile. With no time to lose, Mater grabs Lightning and heads off to Buckingham Palace, where Miles Axlerod is waiting with the Queen of England. With the Queen's bodyguards preventing Mater from getting any closer, Mater explains to them, Lightning, Finn and Holley that Miles Axlerod is the one who activated the bomb, remembering that the bomb is attached with the same bolts used on an old engine shown on a photo that Finn and Holley had got, also that old engines contain oil. Miles Axlerod, however, tries to tell everyone that none of this is true, but Mater keeps on talking, saying that Miles Axlerod is the leader of Professor Z and the lemons, trying to make the world dismiss alternative fuel and buy regular oil from a secret oil reserve, because they had been laughed at for their entire lives. As the bomb gets closer to detonation, everyone braces themselves, while Axlerod tries to take Mater's comments as lies, but as he is encountered by Mater, he is forced to make a voice command, which successfully turns off the bomb, and proves that Mater was right about everything. To congratulate his bravery, the Queen makes Mater a knight, which also makes him as popular as his best friend Lightning. As they arrive back in Radiator Springs, Mater tells Lightning and their friends about how he met Finn and Holley and helped them to learn information about Professor Z and the lemons. Just then, Finn and Holley arrive, paying Mater and his friends a visit. Lightning is also given the time to ask how come he didn't explode when the lemons were using their EMP emitter on him in London, but Finn and Holley point out that they also do not know the reason, but found out that allinol was just gasoline upgraded by Axlerod to blow up when coming into contact with an electromagnetic pulse. Lightning then begins to realize that Fillmore had told him back in Italy that allinol was safe, and everyone assumes that something had been done to Lightning's supply of allinol before the race. Fillmore states that before the race, Lightning's supply was replaced by his own organic fuel, but that Sarge actually did it, not Fillmore. Later, Lightning invites all of the World Grand Prix racers to compete in Radiator Springs' unofficial Grand Prix, as a way to treat them to a great race, even knowing that thanks to the fate of the World Grand Prix, still no one knows who is the fastest in the world. Before lining up on the grid, Lightning has Francesco meet Sally, who is honored by Francesco's comment about Lightning being very lucky to be racing, especially when racing against his rivals. Not long before the race, Lightning adds to Sally to wish him luck, to which Sally knows he will be lucky enough to win. This time, Lightning and Francesco are calmer towards each other, both having grins as they battle for the lead, while the other racers are enjoying it. Not long after, Mater joins in, having been given his rocket jets by Finn and Holley, and he and Lightning happily race each other to the end of the Radiator Springs Grand Prix, as Finn and Holley leave for their next mission.
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In the second film, Lightning returns, but as the deuteragonist. This time around, Lightning is racing in the first ever World Grand Prix to determine who's the world's fastest car. But the road to the championship is filled with plenty of potholes, detours, and hilarious surprises. "Number 95 Lightning McQueen top speed was 230 and he is still a hotshot racecar, but his rookie days are past him. Now a permanent resident of Radiator Springs, Lightning has become a bona fide worldwide celebrity as winner of four Piston Cups. After his long racing season, resulting him winning his fourth Piston Cup, Lightning returns home to Radiator Springs to enjoy the summer. All of his friends excitedly greet him, but none so more than Mater, eager to have a fun-filled summer with him. After an entire day involving riding on railway tracks with no tires and tipping over an enormous haul truck, Lightning politely tells Mater that he wants to enjoy the evening with his girlfriend Sally. However, Mater suddenly pretends to be a waiter at Wheel Well Motel as an excuse to hang out with his friends. After sending Mater off to get his usual drink (which Mater did not know), the couple notice a crowd gather inside the bar. Deciding to find out what's going on, they spot Francesco Bernoulli on TV, insulting both him and Mater over the phone. Lightning pulls Mater away from the phone before he could embarrass himself and anyone else further, making snug comebacks at Francesco that rile him and make him leave the stage. Miles Axlerod suggests that the two racers settle their dispute in the World Grand Prix, a high profile, three-part exhibition race that Axlerod previously extended an invitation to Lightning. As Luigi, Guido, Sarge, and Fillmore volunteer to fill in as his pit crew once more, Lightning gladly accepted the challenge. Sally then suggested bringing Mater along, as Lightning had never brought him to any of his races. Despite his reluctance, Lightning gives in to Sally's reasoning and invites Mater along. With a fresh custom paint job and real working headlights, Lightning sets off to Japan, Italy, and England with Mater in tow for the adventure of a lifetime. But competing against the fastest cars in the world tests more than his racing skills when Lightning realizes his wide-eyed best friend may not be the pit chief nor ambassador he needs to navigate the unfamiliar international terrain." During a race against several other competitors including an Italian car named Francesco Bernoulli, Lightning unexpectedly loses the race in Tokyo after Mater is unexpectedly mistaken for a spy and therefore abandoning his position as crew chief, unintentionally giving him bad advice in the process. McQueen gets mad at Mater and claims that he doesn't need or want his help anymore, causing the tow truck to feel dejected. The next morning, Lightning and the others discover a farewell note from Mater, apologizing for what he had done. Lightning then reassured himself and his friends that at least Mater will be safe back home. Little that he knew that Mater had been mistaken from a spy and was caught up in a plot involving Lemon cars and the race. As Team Lightning McQueen arrive in Luigi and Guido's home town in Italy, a depressed Lightning began to feel guilty over his fight with Mater. Luigi's Uncle Topolino tells him that he has been too harsh on Mater and should accept him for who he is. In Porto Corsa for the second race, Lightning manages to win one over on Francesco. However, they then spot most of the other racecars having suffered engine damage from the Allinol fuel in their tanks exploding. Though Axlerod is forced to suspend Allinol's use from the final race in London, Lightning announced that he would continue to use Allinol, stating that Fillmore said it was safe, and that "he didn't stand by Mater recently, he wasn't going to make the same mistake twice". Unknown to him, the Lemons decided to target and kill him during the final race to fully discredit Allinol. Lightning later called Radiator Springs to talk to Mater, only to learn that he didn't return home. In response, Sally and the others joined him in London, Sheriff and Sarge departing their company to consult respectively with Scotland Yard and the British Military to find Mater. He was then personally approached by Axlerod, who thanked him for giving Allinol another chance. When Sally reminded him that Mater would want him to race, Lightning resolved to race in his best friend's name. In the middle of the race, Lightning spotted Mater in the pits, only for the latter to desperately drive away from him. He chases Mater through the streets, trying to apologize, not knowing that he had a bomb in his engine. After the chase, they hear from Professor Z that it's voice activated and can only be deactivated by the one who activated it in the first place. Mater soon realizes that Miles Axlerod is the criminal behind the World Grand Prix, but is worried that nobody will believe him. Then, Lightning tells him what he learned, and Mater goes to the palace and forces Miles to deactivate the bomb. For that, Lightning decides to bring Mater to all his races from now on. After Mater is formally knighted by the Queen, everyone returns to Radiator Springs, where they receive a visit from Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell. Lightning then questioned why the Lemons' EMP camera didn't ignite the Allinol in his tank, to which the spycars had no answer. They all turn to Fillmore, who admitted that Sarge switched his Allinol with Fillmore's organic fuel, hence why Lightning didn't explode. As all the WGP racers are invited for the Radiator Springs Grand Prix, Lightning and Francesco's rivalry had toned down, as they both agreed that the race is better off without cameras or press. As he turned to introduce the Italian to Sally, Francesco quickly addressed her and stated that Lightning is the luckiest car to have her as his girlfriend, before adding that he'll need luck to beat him. Lightning then sported off his new stickers saying, "Ka-Ciao Francesco", which amused his rival. In the middle of the race, Mater joins the racers on his rocket jets and races Lightning for first place as the film ends. During the credits, Lightning and Mater are seen visiting many places around the world before returning home.
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Five years after the events of the first film, McQueen, now a four-time Piston Cup champion (2007-2011), returns to Radiator Springs after a successful racing season. He is pleased to renew his friendship with Mater. McQueen's respite is interrupted when he is recruited to participate in the first ever World Grand Prix, sponsored by former oil tycoon Miles Axelrod to promote his new biofuel, Allinol. McQueen initially declines but is publicly taunted by Formula One race car Francesco Bernoulli. Mater intervenes to defend McQueen, leading him to reconsider and join the race. Mater hopes to tag along on the tour and, despite concerns about Mater's meddling behavior, McQueen reluctantly agrees. In Tokyo at a pre-race party, McQueen is embarrassed by Mater's antics and he begins to regret bringing him along. Soon after, Mater unwittingly gets caught up in a spy mission with Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell. This leads to more antics during the first race, which McQueen initially dominates. However, a miscommunication by Mater ultimately costs him the race. Upset, McQueen confronts Mater, and tells him that he doesn't need or want his help. Feeling disappointed, Mater decides to head back home, leaving a heart-felt apology for McQueen, leaving McQueen feeling bad for being too harsh. On the way home, Mater ends up involved in the spy mission once again. Meanwhile, the World Grand Prix moves on to Italy, however, McQueen is too depressed to enjoy it since his argument with Mater. There, McQueen comes to understand even the best of friends will argue every now and then, and he is inspired to patch up his friendship with Mater. McQueen wins the second race in Porto Corsa, Italy, though many cars end up damaged. Through his spy mission, Mater learns an unidentified criminal mastermind is sabotaging the cars. An unknowing public begins to question whether Allinol is to blame, since the fuel is one common thing being used by all of the cars. In response, Axlerod decides to remove Allinol from the final race, allowing the cars to choose their own fuel. McQueen elects to continue with Allinol based on advice from his friend and pit crew member Fillmore. (Unbeknownst to McQueen, his fuel had already been replaced with Fillmore's bio-fuel.) The mastermind orders Professor Zündapp (Professor Z) to seize the opportunity and have McQueen killed, so that Allinol will be blamed. Mater overhears the order and tries to warn McQueen, but is unable to do so before being captured and rendered unconscious. During the third and final race in London, Mater escapes and resumes his attempt to warn McQueen. At McQueen's pit, Mater learns that the mastermind planted a bomb in his engine compartment while he was unconscious, and it will be detonated when McQueen comes near, killing them both. McQueen sees Mater and approaches him, hoping to deliver his apology. Mater speeds away in order to avoid killing McQueen. McQueen pursues him, thinking that Mater is fleeing out of guilt. Soon they are out of range of the detonator's remote control. After stopping, McQueen finally realizes the spy mission was real after Shiftwell and McMissile appear with a captured Zündapp. Zündapp reveals that only the mastermind can deactivate Mater's bomb. Mater alone pieces together the final clues and identifies the mastermind as Miles Axlerod. This makes sense to no one else until Mater explains that Axlerod wanted to give alternative energy a bad name, because he owns the largest untapped oil reserves in the world. Mater managed to prove this by personally forcing Axlerod to disarm the bomb in person, which made McQueen and the others realize that Axlerod was indeed the true mastermind after all. Following the arrest of Axlerod and his cohorts, it was revealed that Allinol was actually gasoline engineered by Axlerod as part of his plan to discredit alternative energy just as Mater suspected, and that McQueen's Allinol supply was switched with Fillmore's organic fuel by Sarge, which would explain how McQueen managed to avoid being affected by the radiation. Being so amazed to see that Mater actually foiled a world criminal conspiracy with his own wits, McQueen happily declares that Mater can come to all races from now on if he likes, much to Mater's delight. McQueen also witnessed Mater's knighting by the Queen in honor for his actions. Back in Radiator Springs, the competitors assemble in a show of sportsmanship for a race with nothing at stake. The film ends with McQueen taking first place during the Radiator Springs Grand Prix, joined by Mater thanks to new rocket boosters he was given by Finn and Holley. McQueen's paint scheme is nearly the same as it was in the first movie (his large lightning bolt is repainted dark red, and a smaller bolt is threaded through his number, and has only three sponsor stickers on either side), though it is modified for the World Grand Prix with green-tinted flames on the end of his large bolt and a Piston Cup logo on the hood instead of his usual Rust-Eze sponsor. His reflective lightning decals are removed, he has a different spoiler, and his sticker headlights and taillights are replaced with actual working lights.
=== Cars 3 ===
In Cars 3, Lightning McQueen returns as the protagonist. By Cars 3, Lightning has been racing in the Piston Cup for over 10 years. He has struck up friendships with fellow racers Cal Weathers - who is now racing for Dinoco with his uncle Strip "The King" Weathers as his crew chief - and Bobby Swift. Tex Dinoco would still like McQueen to race for him, even courting him within earshot of Cal. During the season, a newcomer named Jackson Storm seemingly comes out of nowhere and wins. McQueen later congratulates him only for Storm to state it was an honor to "finally beat [him]", later telling his crew that he "struck a nerve", showing that he likes to use emotional manipulation to get into his opponents' heads. Also, Storm uses the latest technology to train, making him a highly-skilled precision racer. The season goes on with Jackson continuing to rack up wins, and more advanced, rookie racers begin supplanting the older generation. Cal chooses to retire, telling McQueen how much he valued their friendship. Bobby is fired by his sponsor and replaced with Daniel Swervez. On the next race, McQueen gets increasingly desperate to win, but fortunately Guido is still fast at pit stops and gets him back out, with Sally and Mater cheering him on. Storm continues to mock him on the track, passing him. Swervez and Chase Racelott, another next-gen racer, also pass McQueen. Lightning pushes himself as hard as he can, but this causes his right rear tire to blow out, his overworked engine finally giving out, and he loses control. Lightning slams into the track's outside wall at the exit of turn four, is sent airborne, and he suffers a horrible rollover crash, leaving him critically injured, knocked out, and barely alive on the track's apron at the entrance of turn one. Sally, Mater, Guido and Luigi go out to see if he's okay while emergency responders check on him. Four months later, McQueen has recovered and is back in Radiator Springs. He's in Doc's old garage watching footage of the crash that ended his career. Sally then checks on him. Lightning doesn't want to end up like Doc who was forced to retire. Sally tells him not to fear failure, reminding him that he has a chance. She resorts to some reverse psychology to get him going. McQueen tells all his friends he intends to keep racing. After Ramone re-paints McQueen in his original racing color scheme, Mack takes him, Guido and Luigi to the new Rust-eze Racing Center. He's surprised to learn that Dusty and Rusty sold Rust-eze to billionaire Sterling, who appears to be a big fan. He has McQueen fitted with a new suit which tracks his speed and vital signs. Sterling shows off all the high-tech training equipment, including the most advanced simulator available. McQueen is introduced to Cruz Ramirez, a friendly and enthusiastic trainer who first riles McQueen up by saying he's an impostor, but this was quickly shown as a motivational tactic. Cruz trains McQueen, who's itching to try the simulator. Unfortunately, it goes badly when McQueen rams into various objects, catches on fire, flies off the restraints and crashes into the screen. Sterling then calls him into his office, showing him lots of merchandise with his likeness. McQueen realizes that Sterling doesn't want him racing anymore, so he makes a wager: if McQueen wins his next race, he retires whenever he wants; if not, he'll sell all the merchandise he can. McQueen, Guido, Luigi and Mack head to Fireball Beach to train, with Cruz following them to help. Cruz will run alongside him using her digital assistant Hamilton to gauge his top speed, but will have to stay very close. This proves easier said than done since Cruz doesn't know how to race on sand. It takes until sunset to get it right. McQueen's top speed is gauged at 198 mph, which is still slower than Storm. He decides to head to Thunder Hollow which has a dirt track, but when Luigi gets worried about the press finding him there, Mack assures him he can give McQueen a disguise. When they get there, McQueen is covered in mud to mask his appearance, going by the name Chester Whipplefilter. They realize too late that it's a Demolition Derby, and Cruz now has to take part too. The champion is a monster school bus named Miss Fritter. Both McQueen and Cruz barely avoid getting hit, but McQueen has to protect Cruz from Fritter. Cruz wins the derby, but accidentally trips Mr. Drippy over and inadvertently washes McQueen off, blowing his cover. An angry McQueen lashes out at Cruz in Mack's trailer, complaining that he spent the entire day having to take care of her. He states that he has to win his next race to continue in the sport, saying she wouldn't understand since she's not a racer. At the end of his rant, McQueen slams his front tire againt the trailer wall hard enough to knock over Cruz's trophy and break it. Feeling hurt by McQueen's words and actions, Cruz orders Mack to pull over and angrily snaps back at Lightning. She never wanted to be a trainer, but a racer like him. She got to her first race, but felt she didn't belong and left. Lightning admits - at Cruz's urging - that he never felt he didn't belong. She wishes she knew what that felt like. Cruz drives off on her own. Mack spends the night sleeping under a bridge while McQueen watches TV. Footage of the demolition derby plays. Also, analyst Natalie Certain reports that Storm has set a new record for fastest lap, making him the heavy favorite at 95.2%. McQueen calls Mater who fortunately was still awake. Mater initially can't come up with good advice until McQueen says he wishes he could talk to Doc again. Mater makes an off-handed comment that the car who taught Doc would know more about racing than him. With that, McQueen catches up to Cruz and convinces her to come with him to Doc's hometown of Thomasville. Once arriving, Lightning and Cruz get a look at the dirt track where Doc used to race. They meet Doc's mentor Smokey, who takes them to a bar with fellow racing legends River Scott, Junior Johnson, and Louise Nash. McQueen tells Smokey that he wishes he could've seen Doc during his racing days when he was at his happiest. Smokey tells McQueen that he never heard from Doc after he moved to Radiator Springs, but one day he started getting letters from him. Smokey shows McQueen a wall with pictures of McQueen and Doc, revealing that coaching Lightning was the happiest time of his life. Smokey tells him he can't be faster than Storm, but he can be smarter than him, as evidenced by making it through the derby without a scratch. Since McQueen missed the qualifiers, he'll have to start from behind and Jackson will start in front. Cruz has a spoiler installed and black tape is used to make her resemble Storm so she can be a "sparring partner" for McQueen. The two will race on the speedway with the latter only having three laps to overtake her, but he can't. They use other techniques to train: dodging thrown bales of hay and other obstacles, maneuvering through a tractor stampede, and driving through a forest at night without their headlights on. The two get the hang of the exercises. While night driving, McQueen's suit gets torn off by the trees, giving him back his original racing colors. During this, Lightning and Cruz watch old footage of Doc's races. They see that he used the drafting technique to gain speed and see him use the barricade to flip over another car who tried to ram him into the wall. On their final day of training, McQueen manages to pull ahead on the speedway, but Cruz still wins. They have to head to Florida for the race. While Sheriff, Lizzie, and Red stayed behind, the rest of Radiator Springs arrived in Florida to cheer McQueen on, with Smokey acting as his crew chief. McQueen starts out last but gains ground. Sterling orders Cruz to leave. This doesn't sit well with McQueen, who hears the conversation, and wants her back. After a wreck occurs, Lightning makes the call that Cruz will finish the race for him. She is quickly prepared by Ramone, Luigi, and Guido while Mater keeps Sterling away. With the #95, racing tires, and a spoiler, Cruz officially joins the race. Through Smokey, McQueen relays advice to her but takes over as her crew chief. Cruz puts all the training to great use and makes it near the top. While Storm is in first, he purposely falls back to second place as Cruz makes it to third place. He resorts to psychological warfare against her but McQueen tells her Jackson sees her as a threat or he would not be using such tactics. The final lap comes. Cruz is right behind Jackson who cannot shake her. Storm rams her into the wall but she uses Doc's flipping move to escape and take the lead. Cruz wins the race to the delight of the crowd. Everyone congratulates her on the win. As Lightning is about to accept his fate as Sterling's product, he checks the scoreboard to see that he won the race alongside Cruz. At the end, McQueen decides to hold a friendly exhibition race with Cruz for all of their friends, with McQueen sporting Doc's racing number and color, continuing Doc's legacy.
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Lightning returns in Cars 3 for the second time as the protagonist. In the third film, Lightning has now won a total of seven Piston Cups, and has been racing in the Piston Cup for quite a lot of seasons, winning Piston Cup races alongside racers like Cal Weathers and Bobby Swift, who he has a good friendship and friendly, competitive rivalry with. However, during mid-season, a next-generation racer named Jackson Storm begins to win races, while many veteran racers, including Cal and Bobby, getting replaced by new racers throughout the season when they fail to win any more races. At the same time, Lightning also struggles to finish ahead of Jackson Storm. In most races like the Data Shift 400 he got 2nd place, in the Dinoco Light 350 he got 2nd and in the Gears and Glotry 450 he got 4th place. At the race at the Los Angeles International Speedway, when the two rivals pit, Guido changes Lightning's tires in time for him to come out of the pits and take the lead, but Jackson Storm shortly catches up to Lightning and retakes the lead, building up a long gap, while two other racers (Danny Swervez and Chase Racelott) easily overtake Lightning. In shock, Lightning tries to catch up by pushing as hard as he can, but both of his rear tires burn out and he loses control and suffers a terrible crash. Four months later, Lightning seeks help from new trainer Cruz Ramirez to learn some new tricks for challenging Jackson Storm in the Florida 500. In addition, Lightning is forced to make a wager with new Rust-eze owner Sterling: if he loses the Florida 500, he'll have to give up his racing career forever in favor of a spokesman for his brand. Unfortunately, Lightning does not improve his speed. Instead, he spends most of the day helping Cruz get used to a sandy coastline outside the training center. Later, they go to a dirt track for inspiration, but accidentally compete in a demolition derby. Cruz wins the derby, and Lightning gets humiliated on national television. Lightning gets furious at Cruz for wasting his time and breaks her trophy. Cruz later reveals that she wanted to become a racer. Later, Lightning is aware of Storm's new top speed record, even seeing his old rival turned announcer Chick Hicks berating McQueen's experience at Thunder Hollow and also realizing that his career might be over due to being ranked 95 percent on television. Disappointed, he calls Mater for advice. Mater suggests that he search for Smokey, Doc's old mentor. McQueen then begins to apologize to Cruz for his rudeness to her. Lightning and Cruz do so and find Smokey and some of Doc's old friends. Smokey tells Lightning that he is not the racer he once was and teaches Lightning and Cruz ways to outsmart Storm, knowing that even though he can't beat Storm, he can be smarter than him. During the Florida 500, Lightning starts the race first and begins outmaneuvering next-gen racers to gain advantage. But after finding out that Sterling is sending Cruz back to the training center, and realizing that she has always wanted to become a racer, he decides to substitute Cruz into the race. Cruz then remembers advice both Smokey and Lightning gave her and finally manages to come into second place, behind Jackson Storm. Jackson Storm tries to ram Cruz against a wall, but Cruz flips over him and wins the race, though she and Lightning are credited with the victory, thus he wins the bet with Sterling and decides to continue racing, but before that, he has something he wanted to do first. Later, back at Radiator Springs, Lightning gets a new paint job honoring Doc Hudson, and races Cruz around Willy's Butte. During the credits, Lightning spends the rest of the season as Cruz's crew chief, and the two enjoy their time together as a team.
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"Lightning McQueen is world champion – a modern-day racing legend who's riding high with 7 Piston-Cup wins under his hood which can only be matched by The King Strip Weathers who also has 7 piston cups. Suddenly, he finds himself faced with a new generation of racers who threaten not only his dominance in the sport but the confidence that got him there. Determined to get back to the pole position, the #95 must decide if his love for racing is enough to fuel the comeback of his life." Lightning returns in Cars 3 for the second time as the protagonist. He has struck up friendships with fellow racers Cal Weathers - who is now racing for Dinoco with his uncle Strip "The King" Weathers as his crew chief - and Bobby Swift. Tex Dinoco would still like Lightning to race for him, even courting him within earshot of Cal. During the season, a newcomer named Jackson Storm seemingly comes out of nowhere and wins. Lightning later congratulates him only for Jackson Storm to state it was an honor to "finally beat him", later telling his crew that he "struck a nerve", showing that he likes to use emotional manipulation to get into his opponents' heads. Also, Storm uses the latest technology to train, making him a highly-skilled precision racer. The season goes on with Storm continuing to rack up wins, and more advanced, rookie racers begin supplanting the older generation. Cal chooses to retire, telling Lightning how much he valued their friendship. Bobby is fired by his sponsor and replaced with Danny Swervez. On the next race, Lightning gets increasingly desperate to win, but fortunately Guido is still fast at pit stops and gets him back out, with his girlfriend Sally Carrera and best friend Mater cheering him on. Jackson Storm continues to mock him on the track, passing him. Daniel Swervez and Chase Racelott - another next-gen racer - also pass Lightning. Lightning pushes himself as hard as he can, but both of his rear tires burn out and he suffers a violent rollover crash. Sally, Mater, Guido and Luigi go out to see if he's okay while emergency responders check on him. Four months later, Lightning has recovered and is back in Radiator Springs. He's in Doc's old garage watching footage of the crash that ended his career. Sally then checks on him. Lightning doesn't want to end up like Doc who was forced to retire. Sally tells him not to fear failure, reminding him that he has a chance. She resorts to some reverse psychology to get him going. Lightning tells all his friends he intends to keep racing. After Ramone re-paints Lightning in his original racing color scheme, Mack takes him, Guido and Luigi to the new Rust-eze Racing Center. He's surprised to learn that Dusty and Rusty sold Rust-eze to billionaire Sterling, who appears to be a big fan. He has Lightning fitted with a new suit which tracks his speed and vital signs. Sterling shows off all the high-tech training equipment, including the most advanced simulator available. Lightning is introduced to Cruz Ramirez, a friendly and enthusiastic trainer who first riles Lightning up by saying he's an imposter, but this was quickly shown as a motivational tactic. Cruz trains Lightning, who's itching to try the simulator. Unfortunately, it goes badly when Lightning rams into various objects, catches on fire, flies off the restraints and crashes into the screen. Sterling then calls him into his office, showing him lots of merchandise with his likeness. McQueen realizes that Sterling doesn't want him racing anymore, so he makes a wager: if McQueen wins his next race, he retires whenever he wants; if not, he'll sell all the merchandise he can. McQueen, Guido, Luigi, and Mack head to Fireball Beach to train, with Cruz following them to help. Cruz will run alongside him using her digital assistant Hamilton to gauge his top speed, but will have to stay very close. This proves easier said than done since Cruz doesn't know how to race on sand. It takes until sunset to get it right. McQueen's top speed is gauged at 198 mph, which is still slower than Storm. He decides to head to Thunder Hollow which has a dirt track, but when Luigi gets worried about the press finding him there, Mack assures him he can give Lightning a disguise. When they get there, Lightning is covered in mud to mask his appearance, going by the name Chester Whipplefilter. They realize too late that it's a Demolition Derby, and Cruz now has to take part too. The champion is a monster school bus named Miss Fritter. Both Lightning and Cruz barely avoid getting hit, but McQueen has to protect Cruz from Fritter. Cruz wins the derby, but accidentally trips a water truck over, inadvertently washing Lightning off and blowing his cover. A furious Lightning lashes out at Cruz in Mack's trailer, complaining that he spent the entire day having to take care of her. He states that he has to win his next race to continue in the sport, saying she wouldn't understand since she's not a racer. And in the process, Lightning breaks Cruz's trophy. Angry, Cruz orders Mack to pull over and snaps back at Lightning. She never wanted to be a trainer, but a racer like him. She got to her first race, but felt she didn't belong and left. Lightning admits at Cruz's urging that he never felt he didn't belong. She wishes she knew what that felt like. Cruz drives off on her own. Lightning felt bad as Cruz began driving off. He did not mean to hurt her feelings. Mack spends the night sleeping under a bridge while Lightning watches TV. Footage of the demolition derby plays. Also, analyst Natalie Certain reports that Jackson Storm has set a new record for fastest lap, making him the heavy favorite at 95.2%. Lightning calls Mater who fortunately was still awake. Mater initially can't come up with good advice until McQueen says he wishes he could talk to Doc again. Mater makes an off-handed comment that the car who taught Doc would know more about racing than him. With that, Lightning catches up to Cruz and convinces her to come with him to Doc's hometown of Thomasville. Once arriving, Lightning and Cruz get a look at the dirt track where Doc used to race. They meet Doc's mentor Smokey, who takes them to a bar with fellow racing legends River Scott, Junior Moon, and Louise Nash. Lightning tells Smokey that he wishes he could've seen Doc during his racing days when he was at his happiest. Smokey tells Lightning that he never heard from Doc after he moved to Radiator Springs, but one day he started getting letters from him. Smokey shows Lightning a wall with pictures of Lightning and Doc, revealing that coaching Lightning was the happiest time of his life. Smokey tells him he can't be faster than Storm, but he can be smarter than him, as evidenced by making it through the derby without a scratch. Since Lightning missed the qualifiers, he'll have to start from behind and Jackson Storm will start in front. Cruz has a spoiler installed and black tape is used to make her resemble Jackson Storm so she can be a "sparring partner" for Lightning. The two will race on the speedway with the latter only having three laps to overtake her, but he can't. They use other techniques to train: dodging thrown bales of hay and other obstacles, maneuvering through a tractor stampede, and driving through a forest at night without their headlights on. The two get the hang of the exercises. While night driving, Lightning's suit gets torn off by the trees, giving him back his original racing colors. During this, Lightning and Cruz watch old footage of Doc's races. They see that he used the drafting technique to gain speed and see him use the barricade to flip over another car who tried to ram him into the wall. On their final day of training, Lightning manages to pull ahead on the speedway, but Cruz still wins. They have to head to Florida for the race. While Sheriff, Lizzie, and Red stayed behind, the rest of Radiator Springs arrived in Florida to cheer Lightning on, with Smokey acting as his crew chief. McQueen starts out last but gains ground. Sterling orders Cruz to leave. This doesn't sit well with Lightning, who hears the conversation, and wants her back. After a wreck occurs, Lightning makes the call that Cruz will finish the race for him. She is quickly prepared by Ramone, Luigi, and Guido while Mater keeps Sterling away. Cruz officially joins the race with the #95 but she's nervous. Lightning relays advice to her but takes over as her crew chief. Cruz puts all the training to great use and makes it near the top. While Storm is in first, he purposely falls back to second place as Cruz makes it to third place. He resorts to psychological warfare against her but Lightning tells her Jackson Storm sees her as a threat or he wouldn't be using such tactics. The final lap comes. Cruz is right behind Storm who can't shake her. Jackson Storm rams her into the wall but she uses Doc's flipping move to escape and take the lead. Cruz wins the race to the delight of the crowd. Everyone congratulates her on the win. Sterling then reverses fields and tries to convince Cruz to race for him, but she turns him down flat. Tex makes her an offer to be the next racer for Dinoco, which Cruz accepts. Lightning is declared a co-winner since he started the race with the #95. Lightning decides he wants to keep racing, but he has something to do first. Back in Radiator Springs, Cruz now sports the Dinoco logo as well as the #51, carrying on Doc's legacy. Lightning has been painted the same blue shade as Doc and now brands himself as the "Fabulous Lightning McQueen", becoming her crew chief. Rust-Eze has been bought by Tex as well. In a way, Lightning has achieved an old dream of racing for Dinoco. With all their friends watching, the two have a race around Willy's Butte.
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Six years after the events of the second film, the story starts out with McQueen, now a seven-time Piston Cup winner (2007-2014) and racing legend, racing in the Piston Cup while pitted against his old racing friends, Cal Weathers and Bobby Swift all who pull pranks on each other after each race. On the final lap of one race, Jackson Storm, a high-tech racer, appears out of nowhere on the track, roaring past McQueen to win. Storm continues to win race after race throughout the season, and many veteran racers are prompted to retire or are fired by their sponsors to make room for the next generation - including Cal and Bobby. During the final race of the season in Los Angeles, McQueen pushes himself too hard while trying to catch up to Storm, and sends himself into a dangerous crash. Sally, Mater, Sarge, Fillmore, Luigi and Guido are all shocked in horror to see McQueen's crash. The film's premise revolves around McQueen recovering from the crash that happened earlier and being trained by Cruz Ramirez, a technician and lifelong fan of McQueen, during the offseason in hopes of returning to his racing career. His main motivation to return to racing is to be able to enter the Florida 500 race and defeat Storm, after being given an ultimatum by new sponsor Sterling to permanently retire to a life as a paid spokesperson if he loses his next race. Sterling was planning for him to retire anyway so that he could make money out of McQueen's retirement merchandises, but he hid his nature and pretended to be a fan. After several unsuccessful attempts at training, including damaging Sterling's simulator and participating in a demolition derby, McQueen decides to seek out Doc's old pit boss, Smokey, and eventually meets him at the Thomasville Motor Speedway in Doc's old hometown, in what appears to be the Great Smoky Mountains. Trained on smarts as well as speed, McQueen runs the first half of the Florida 500, with Smokey as his crew chief, before pulling out and giving Cruz a shot at stardom, with him as the crew chief. Cruz and McQueen share the victory due to Lightning starting the race, and ultimately a sponsorship under the merged Dinoco-Rust-Eze brand, thus he wins the bet with Sterling and decides to keep racing, and Cruz becomes his pupil. McQueen ends the film with a race with Cruz at Radiator Springs, now a mentor of young talent while running the occasional Piston Cup race. He reverts to the body type he had back in the first film, but the paint job features a cross between the lightning bolts seen in the first film, and the flames seen in the second film, said that the bolts are solid colored instead of halftone, the Rust-Eze logos were enlarged, and has fewer sponsor stickers than he had in the first film. He also sports a second paint scheme prior to his crash (With a slightly desaturated red paintwork, a more modernized version of the Rust-Eze logo and different lightning bolts), a third "training" paint job in which he is darker red with metallic yellow accents, and a fourth "demolition derby" paint job in which he is all mud brown and numbered 15. At the end of the film, McQueen is decked in a blue "Fabulous Lightning McQueen" paint job reminiscent of Doc Hudson's. He also keeps his working lights.
== General information ==
=== Physical description ===
Lightning's model is a hand-built racing car, built for racing purposes specifically. He is a mix of a stock car and a more curvaceous Le Mans endurance racer. He has modifications like a red spoiler, and for a short time did not have headlights, only stickers. He has coil-over shocks with tubular A arm front suspension, a solid axle rear end and vented disc brakes at all four wheels. He also has air flaps on his roof to prevent flipping. His engine is a V-8, having a horsepower of 750. In Cars 2, his 0-60 speed is 3.2 seconds, and his top speed is 200 mph. In Cars 3, his 0-60 speed is four seconds, and his top speed is 198 mph, but this is likely just because his speed was recorded on sand. On asphalt, his top speed is more likely a full 200 MPH. Many fans claim that he either resembles a Dodge Viper, Ford GT40 or a tuned Mazda MX5. McQueen's appearance bears very little resemblance to modern NASCAR sedans. He instead resembles a C6 Corvette, but using NASCAR technology. In Cars, Lightning wears his Piston Cup paint scheme. He is painted red, with an orange and yellow lightning bolt design on his doors, along with the number "95" and a variety of sponsor stickers. He has the Rust-eze logo on his hood, as well as on his spoiler and rear fenders. On his yellow rear bumper is the inscription "Medicated Ointment". In Radiator Springs, McQueen is repainted to maroon with a white oval on his doors and a little, yellow lightning bolt on it, similar to a late 1950s era Corvette's one. His spoiler, logos and number were also removed. Before the final race, he regains his spoiler and is repainted back to his Piston Cup paint job. In the epilogue scene and credits of Cars, Lightning is again shown in the maroon and white paint job, but now with the number 95 painted on his doors and roof, surrounded by a white circle, and he also has Rust-eze logos and some stickers, though his rear bumper now lacks any logos but-also according to Cars 3 flashbacks, McQueen often switches this paint job to the original Piston Cup one. At the beginning of Cars 2, Lightning is shown in his old Piston Cup design; he is no longer painted maroon, but instead in his old red color that was used for his first paint job. On his doors, there is a modified lightning silhouette, painted in deeper red, the yellow lightning bolt from the white oval is bigger and now a big "95" placed on it. The Hudson Hornet Piston Cup logo is added to his doors, also there were only three sponsor stickers. Later in the film, Lightning receives an entirely new design, which brings back his original lightning bolt pattern while changing it to look more like a flame, the Rust-eze logos are replaced with the Piston Cup emblem, and the "WGP 95" stickers are added on the doors. He gets a new spoiler with World Grand Prix logo on top and flames on sides, on his new door skirts is now written "WORLD GRAND PRIX allinol" and on the rear bumper is written "WGP 95 POWERED BY allinol". His headlight stickers were replaced by actual headlights. In the final scene of Cars 2 seen, that all his World Grand Prix stickers, except "WGP 95" and on rear is now seen a sticker, saying "Ka-Ciao, Francesco". During Cars Toons he has a "transition" paint job, Lightning's spoiler now has a Radiator Springs logo on top, Francesco sticker was replaced by Hudson Hornet Piston Cup logo, on his rear bumper is now seen his signature and his bolt, sponsor stickers were regained at the place of "WGP 95". The paint job is called "RS Team McQueen". McQueen's design received another update in Cars 3, now it mostly resemble the original one, but with rebranded Piston Cup and Rust-eze logos. His old spoiler was regained, the number 95 is now seen under his left headlight, on his hood is now seen a lightning bolt with Rusteze logo. After his crash McQueen seen primer with red "95" on his doors. When Lightning was brought to Rust-eze Racing Center, Ramone repainted McQueen back into 2016 Piston Cup paint job, but without lightning bolt on hoodm old Rust-eze logos and with the WGP-like flaming bolt. At the Rust-eze Racing Center he receives an electronic suit heat-shrunk onto him with its own decal scheme. The yellow lightning bolt design with Rust-eze ghost pattern on his doors now extends all the way to his rear fender, and a large Rust-eze logos are now present on his rear end, spoiler and hood, and the sponsor stickers disappeared somewhat resembling the paintjobs of the Next-Gens minus the sponsor logos. However, the suit is accidentally torn to shreds during training at Thomasville and Lightning competed in next race in Ramone's paint job. When McQueen becomes Cruz Ramirez' crew chief, he receives entirely new paint job, inspired by the Fabulous Hudson Hornet's appearance. Now he is painted blue, on his roof seen four yellow 95 numbers and one on his rear fenders, old yellow Rust-eze wordmarks on his hood and spoiler, instead of lightning bolt on his doors is now written "Fabulous McQueen". The Hudson Hornet logo is replaces the Rust-eze logo on the rear and his rear bumper reads "95 For Doc Hudson", the stickers and 95 under his left headlight was removed.
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Lightning has blue eyes and primary has warm colors in his paint jobs. His car model is said to be a stock car and more curvaceous Le Mans endurance racer mixed together, while the Cars Blu-ray Car Finder game states it to be a 2006 handmade one of a kind car. When Lightning gets sponsored by Rust-eze, he has the team's logo on his hood and the back of his sides, along with the name put on his spoiler, which is still a ducktail. His own name is seen on each side of his roof, and he has chrome bolt stickers on his front fenders. He has a large lightning bolt shape on his sides that is yellow at the front, and orange at the back, and has individual black and white lines. His racing number is painted yellow, orange, and red, and is located on his roof and sides. Additionally, he has several decals of the Piston Cup teams over and under the end of the bolt shape, as well as stickers that look like headlights, which he does not actually have, and are the reason why he is usually called "Stickers" by Sally. His racing number is also displayed on one of them. He even has black tires which have on them the Lightyear brand, that is a reference to Goodyear and Buzz Lightyear, and red rims. His back bumper is painted yellow, which references the yellow back bumpers of NASCAR rookies' cars. While he helps out the residents of Radiator Springs, he gets a new paint job, which is a darker red, with a half of a long oval shape painted in wheat and with a thin bolt shape inside. His racing number, name inscription, bolt stickers, and sponsor are absent along with his spoiler, and he gets his racing tires replaced with whitewalls. However, when he gets taken to the Los Angeles International Speedway by Mack and the press, he gets his Rust-eze customization and racing tires back. After finishing the Piston Cup season, he gets another repaint, which regains the oval shape and thin bolt, but slightly shorter, with his racing number in black inside a white circle that has black borders. Additionally, his bolt stickers are again absent. He also regains his spoiler and has less Piston Cup decals, which are all located on the bottom of his sides.
* In his first appearance in Cars 2, Lightning regains his original red shade, his bolt stickers, and the original Rust-eze appearance of his racing number, and has a dark red bolt that is the same size as his original bolt shape, along with a thin yellow bolt across. The Rust-eze logo is absent at the back of his sides, and he has the "Hudson Hornet Piston Cup" logo beside his front fenders. When Lightning takes part in the World Grand Prix, he uses a new paint, which removes the Rust-eze logo and bolt stickers, and has the "Hudson Hornet Piston Cup" logo on his hood. His Piston Cup decals, which were all still on the bottom of his sides, are replaced by the World Grand Prix and allinol logos. His ducktail spoiler is replaced by a raised one, which has the name of Rust-eze replaced by the World Grand Prix logo. He also uses different sets of tires outside races and has a large bolt shape that is again orange and yellow in the same locations, but with green borders, and the back of the bolt is styled after flames, which there is also a dark red flame behind the bolt. The borders of his racing number are also changed from white to green. Beside his front fenders, he has an idol that is almost shaped like a crest, which the World Grand Prix logo and symbol inside it on the top, with the United States flag and his racing number beneath. Additionally, he gets his headlight stickers replaced with actual headlights.
** In his first appearance in Cars 3, he has a new design which is a large bolt but with his sponsor's name Rust-eze at the back of the bolt. He has a bolt on his hood with the same Rust-eze word, retaining his actual working headlights from the second film and ducktail spoiler from the first film. Four months after his crash in the Los Angeles International Speedway race, he is seen in his primer colors while still sporting the 95 decals on his sides before being repainted in his original paint job by Ramone. Once in the Rust-eze Racing center, he receives his electronic suit in which enables Cruz Ramirez to track his top speed through her agent Hamilton (only at close range). With the help of Mack and Luigi, he covers himself in mud under the alias Chester Whipplefilter in order to keep himself low profile in Thunder Hollow before Cruz Ramirez accidentally exposes him to the public after her victory. He finally accidentally loses his electronic suit in Thomasville during his training with Cruz, Smokey, and the retired veteran racers at night. After his (indirect) and Cruz's victory in the Florida 500 race, he gets a new paint job as the Fabulous Lightning McQueen, sporting Doc Hudson's colors, the Rust-eze logo on his hood and 95 on his backsides, his lightning bolt stickers on his front sides, and the Fabulous Lightning McQueen logo on his sides. On his rear, he sports For Doc Hudson as he assumes his career as Cruz's crew chief and mentor in Dinoco-Rust-eze.
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Lightning is a red race car with yellow and orange decals all over, the Rust-eze logo is painted on his hood, the number 95 (which is an Easter egg to the release year of Toy Story) is painted in orange or red on his doors and roof, red rims, blue eyes.
=== Personality and traits ===
Lightning is kind, positive, courageous and brave, and enjoys having fun and spending time with his friends, especially Mater. Prior to his arrival in Radiator Springs, Lightning was cocky and self-centered, only caring about two things: winning and the pride that comes with it. At the time, Lightning had no friends besides Mack and Harv, leaving him with limited social skills. Regardless, he was still a popular name in the racing world, and was constantly being interviewed by the Press and admired by fans, much to his liking. When two fangirls drove up to him, they were taken away by security, after Lightning simply said "I love being me." Though the Radiator Springs residents were not very fond of him at first, they later befriended Lightning, and McQueen learned why it is important to have good friends. Lightning established Radiator Springs as his home base, and the wide publicity sparked interest in the town, which was soon put back on the map. Lightning's best friend is Mater, whom he met when he awoke in the Impound. While Lightning did not like Mater at first, he began to like him after he took Lightning tractor tipping in the middle of the night. Mater and McQueen do several things together, including going tractor tipping regularly, driving backwards, driving along the Ornament Valley railroad tracks without tire treads, and occasionally racing each other. However, the two have their fair share of fights; most notably when Mater accidentally threw Lightning off track during the first race of the World Grand Prix, due to Lightning mistaking his banter with Holley Shiftwell for advice. Angry, Lightning yells at Mater and tells him he neither needs or wants his help anymore. Saddened by this, Mater decides to return home to avoid making Lighting lose another race and apologizes to Lighting through a note. However, at the end of the film, Lightning and Mater make up, and together they expose Miles Axlerod and his plan. Lightning's primary interest when he is not spending quiet time with his friends is racing. As a famous Piston Cup race car himself, Lightning has a remarkable talent for it, and enjoys practicing and competing in road races whenever he is not out on the Piston Cup track. McQueen has many formidable opponents; the many inhabitants of Radiator Springs, a group of British and Mexican rivals, various allies of Chick Hicks, international superstars, and other Piston Cup racers, notably Chick Hicks and, for a short time, The King. Lightning's obsession with victory and fame came to a close once he remembered the words of his mentor, Doc Hudson: "It's just an empty cup." Lightning gave up his win at the tie-breaker race to help The King finish his last race. Lightning still enjoys spending quiet time with his friends, especially Sally Carrera, his girlfriend. Some of their favorite activities are taking a drive through the beautiful scenery of Tailfin Pass, and enjoying dates at the Wheel Well Motel and other locations in Carburetor County.
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At first, Lightning is self-centered and overconfident, feeling he can win the Piston Cup on his own without help from any pit crews or coach. He is so full of himself to the point where he claims he does not need any friends and cannot even get anyone's names right. Because of his attitude towards people, he turned out to be rather friendless and became lonely, which is shown when his agent Harv gave him a few tickets to give his ‘friends,’ unaware that Lightning had no friends. However, he is also something of a perfectionist and will not cease to get something done right, even if it was not in his best interest to indulge in it in the first place as seen when he was tasked by the townsfolk to fix the road that he himself destroyed when he first arrived at their place. After a few grudging performances in his attempts to fix the road, he finally manages to do so. His sponsors are Rust-eze, a small company selling soothing ointment for rusty old cars, which Lightning hates. However, he transforms into a more sympathetic, understanding, and selfless character during his time in Radiator Springs on Route 66. He has since learned to enjoy making friends and treat others with respect.
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Lightning started out as an arrogant, selfish, and conceited racecar who felt he did not need any help to win races. He was unsatisfied with having the small and unglamorous Rust-eze as a sponsor, intended to ditch them for Dinoco the first chance he got. When asked about his tie-breaker race and who he wanted to give his free tickets to, it dawned on him that he did not have any friends. After winding up in Radiator Springs by accident, he starts to lose his less desirable traits as he forms a bond with the town and its residents. He was very touched when Mater saw him as his best friend and grateful to Sally for offering him a place to stay at her motel. As a racecar, Lightning is very talented, gutsy, and confident. He strives to be the best at what he does as evidenced when he tries to make a proper turn on dirt. By the time of his tie-breaker race he has changed into a more kind and caring individual using what he learned in Radiator Springs to gain the advantage. Lightning willingly forfeits the Piston Cup and decides to admit defeat so that Strip Weathers could finish his last race, having realized what is really important in life. McQueen can still be selfish even after the first Cars film, which clouds his judgment, and takes his anger out on his friends whenever things go wrong for him. However, he later seems to recognize the error of his ways whenever this happens. He was constantly complaining during his first two days of re-paving the road in Radiator Springs, but later got over it. He lashed out at Mater for costing him the first race at the World Grand Prix in Tokyo, thinking Mater was yelling nonsense at him (Mater was caught in the middle of the fight between Finn McMissile and the Lemons, but failed to properly explain this to McQueen), but later felt guilty about it. McQueen was upset at Cruz Ramirez for both costing him valuable time training on Fireball Beach and for having to protect her at the Demolition Derby in Thunder Hollow. When she told him she always wanted to be a racer, he apologized, and brought her with him to Thomasville to keep training. McQueen is also known to get angry whenever his biggest rivals (Chick Hicks in Cars, Francesco Bernoulli in Cars 2, Jackson Storm in Cars 3) taunt and belittle him, which further increases his desire and desperation to win races against them. In Cars 2, McQueen was especially happy to beat Francesco in the second race in the World Grand Prix in Italy. He was also so desperate to beat Storm in an early race in Cars 3 that he forces Guido to go faster in the pits and quickly goes back on the track. After Storm taunts him again, McQueen pushed himself as hard as possible to catch up with him, and, not recognizing his own speed limits, resulting in his major crash. However, thanks to Smokey, he understands that can never be faster than Storm, but can be smarter than him. By the end of the film, McQueen seems to understand his speed limits, and decides to keep racing by training Cruz Ramirez, whom he realized has what it takes to be a racer. He temporarily took a break from racing and he trained Cruz Ramirez for sometime. After Cruz became good at racing, McQueen continued, but it is unknown when McQueen continued racing. He still races on the Piston Cup circuits today and is winning most of his races.
=== Powers and abilities ===
As a world-famous race car, Lightning is incredibly gifted, and can perform a variety of stunts to assist him in winning his races. In terms of statistics, Lightning is usually portrayed with having outstanding acceleration, speed, handling, stability, agility, and boost, the latter of which he learned from his friend Fillmore, Lightning can also tilt, which allows him to take turns sharper, as well as squeeze by opponents, which he once did in a Piston Cup race, where he used the wall to squeeze through the space between it and another racer. He can also jump, which allows him to hop over obstacles and other cars. McQueen is a very talented drifter as well; he learned this skill from Doc Hudson, who used to be a famous dirt track racer. Drifting, also called powersliding in some Cars media, allows Lightning to take sharp turns without losing control and driving off of the track. His top speed is around 200 MPH with 750 HP and a 0-60 of 4 seconds.
=== Relationships ===
==== Friends and love interests ====
During his rookie season, Lightning had a rather small selection of friends. Though Rusty and Dusty Rust-eze, along with other rusty cars who idolize McQueen, acted kindly to him, he still dismissed them and did not enjoy making live appearances or interacting with them at all. However, Lightning did have one friend; his transporter and teammate Mack, who had befriended him during Lightning's early racing days, when he was still searching for a new sponsor. However, when Lightning was forced to stay in Radiator Springs after accidentally ripping up the road, though initially hesitant toward being associated with the town's residents, Lightning later befriended all of the cars. Many of the residents, including Luigi, Guido, Fillmore and Sarge, would later become part of McQueen's racing team, while Flo, Ramone, Lizzie, Red, and Sheriff, help him out on various occasions. However, Lightning's closest relationships include Mater and Sally, as well as Doc Hudson, prior to his death. Mater is Lightning's best friend, and the two enjoy participating in various activities with each other, including Tractor Tipping, messing around on the Ornament Valley railroad tracks, and sharing stories with each other. Sally, however, is Lightning's romantic interest. Upon meeting her in the courtroom, Lightning began to develop a crush on her, and the two would later begin to date at the end of Cars. Some of their favorite pastimes together including taking drives through Tailfin Pass, as well as enjoying a quiet evening at the Wheel Well Motel.
==== Foes and rivals ====
Lightning's arch nemesis is Chick Hicks, a rude and selfish Piston Cup race car that has an intense rivalry with Lightning. Despite Chick's win at the 2005 tie-breaker race at the Los Angeles International Speedway, his victory was overshadowed by McQueen's action of helping Strip Weathers to the finish line, who had previously been damaged by Chick. During the following season, Lightning and Chick's rivalry eventually inspired the Radiator Springs Grand Prix, a three-race event hosted in each of the three Carburetor County areas, with the final Piston Cup race of the season to finish it off.
Another racing rival that Lightning had bad blood with was Francesco Bernoulli, although the two would later overcome their differences and become friends, as evidenced in installments such as Cars 2: The Video Game, Cars: Fast as Lightning, and all three installments of the Disney Infinity series. After trash-talking Lightning on live television, Lightning and Francesco found themselves against each other in the World Grand Prix, in which Francesco managed to beat Lightning in the first race, but McQueen won at the following race, with the third and final event having no defined victor. Lightning has also met a fair share of additional racing rivals, though he did not have bad chemistry with any of them, with the exception of Chick's allies from Cars: Race-O-Rama, though they would later apologize for their actions and befriend McQueen. Also, Big D is another of Lightning's rivals, in Mater Private Eye. In Cars 3, Jackson Storm is the main rival of McQueen in the film. Storm makes it clear from the start that he wants McQueen out of the sport as he sarcastically calls him "Champ" and even brags that it takes all he has to beat him despite him beating McQueen with ease. During the LA 500, the final race of the 2016 season, Storm tells McQueen to enjoy his retirement which puts McQueen into shock and causes him to struggle to the point of crashing while keeping up with the Next-Gens.
=== Occupations ===
Lightning is a Piston Cup champion race car known all over the world for his quick and skillful style of racing. He has won four Piston Cups over the years, and is currently working on his fifth. After his fourth win, he was accepted into the World Grand Prix, a championship involving 11 racers, each from a different part of the world. After he finished, he presumably went back to the Piston Cup. In 2017, he became Cruz Ramirez's crew chief.
=== Aliases ===
He is usually referred to by Sally as "Stickers", because of him originally having headlight stickers rather than real ones. However, there are a couple of times when Sally refers to him by his actual name, as she says McQueen's surname when the press are in Radiator Springs in the first film. He is occasionally referred to as "buddy" by Mater, who also at one time calls him "Mr. I Can't Turn On Dirt" in the first film, when he thinks about going tractor tipping.
=== Crew ===
Throughout the franchise McQueen has had a pretty expansive team. Before the events of Cars, McQueen had 3 crew chiefs, one which was named Chuck. In Cars, McQueen's crew consisted of just pitties with one being called Chuck, the name of McQueen's previous crew chief however he claimed that his name was not Chuck. His team of pitties soon left him due to his arrogance as a racer leaving him with no one to work with him besides Mack, McQueen's hauler. During the tie-breaker race at the Los Angeles Speedway, Lightning gained a new team consisting of the folks from Radiator Springs. The most notable ones were Doc Hudson and Guido. Doc served as McQueen's crew chief for 4 years until the events between Cars: Race-O-Rama and Cars 2, where he passed away leaving him once again without a crew chief. However during Cars 2 McQueen's crew changed once again for the World Grand Prix. The lineup this time was Mater as the crew chief, Luigi as the tire expert, Guido as the pitty, Fillmore as the fuel expert and Sarge as the suspension expert as well. Mater left Team McQueen after the Tokyo race due to him causing McQueen to lose only leaving 4 members left. During the London race McQueen's team got bigger, however, it was for emotional support rather than to help him during the race. During Cars 3, McQueen's team remains the same but during the Florida 500 Smokey was McQueen's temporary crew chief until Cruz joined the race and McQueen kept telling him to say ridiculous things things to her which caused Smokey to step down and put McQueen into the spot of being the crew chief for the first time.
== Profiles and statistics ==
== Specifications ==
Lightning McQueen is a 2006 Custom-Built Piston Cup Racing stock car (a mixed NASCAR with some tweaks).
* Top speed: 200 mph - 322 kph
* Acceleration: 0 to 60 mph (100 kph): 4 seconds (was 3.2 at the time of Cars 2)
* Engine: NASCAR V8
* Drivetrain: Front Engine, Rear Wheel Drive layout (RWD)
* Horsepower: 750HP
* Fuel System: Carburetor.
* Fuel type: Organic Biogasoline, American Ethanol
* Transmission: Stock Car Regulation 4 Speed + Reverse (Automatic)
* Brakes: Vented, air-cooled, cast-iron disc brakes on all wheels, 4-piston front and 2-piston rear caliper.
* Suspension: Coil-over shocks (Rear), Double Wishbone (Front)
Lightning also has air flaps on his roof to prevent flipping. Lightning's body is built from 24-gauge Cold-rolled Sheet Steel, and chassis has a high strength tubular frame. Like most Stock Cars, Lightning has no visible doors on his body, and has no external rear-view mirrors, as stock cars' mirrors are placed in the frame next to where the door would be. As is Stock Car regulation, he has a quick-fill fuel cap on his left side (although he has one on both sides in Cars 2 and its related Media. Lightning has all his chassis and undercarriage exposed in every piece of Cars media except those relating to Cars 2. Lightning has no visible grille; and has a high-speed adjustable racing fin on his rear. Until Cars 2, Lightning had no headlights, just stickers in place of them, like most other stock cars.
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=== Cars ===
* Bios
** "Lightning is built for speed and has just two things on his mind: winning and the perks that come with it. In his fast-paced life he has little time for anything or anyone, but who needs friends when you've got a stadium full of fans."
** "To Lightning McQueen, the world's fastest race car, appearance is everything. Fans expect a celebrity like him to look great all the time: fresh, shiny, spotless! If only his fans could see him now."
** "Lightning McQueen's dream is to be sponsored by Dinoco Oil! In his daydreams he looks great with his new Dinoco blue paint job and his very own brand of Lightning McQueen racing tires complete with custom spinners. Hey, and why decide on either gold or silver spinners when you can have both?"
** "The town fixed up Lightning McQueen just in time for a cruise down the strip, and Radiator Springs looks pretty cool on him. Then again, everything looks pretty cool under the glow of the neon on Route 66."
** "Could anything be more embarrassing than being splashed in the face with mud right in front of the girl of your dreams? I don't think so."
** "Could anything be more embarrassing than being splashed in the face with mud right in front of the girl of your dreams? Well, maybe being covered with leaves right after that. Yes, that would be more embarrassing..."
** "After winning the Piston Cup and getting The King's coveted Dinoco Sponsorship, McQueen imagines a movie deal will be the next logical step. He sees himself doing action movies, with a hint of comedy, a touch of drama and a truck load of explosions."
** "Turning on dirt is not only harder than Lightning McQueen thought, it's also a lot more embarrassing."
** "Some lessons have to be learned the hard way. Turn right to go left sounds easy enough, but McQueen's finding out it's a lot more painful than it seems."
** "Lightning McQueen never stops for tires, even if it means driving right through them."
** "When you don't have a nose to win by, a tongue is the next best thing."
** "I don't need your help, I don't want your help!!"
** "I lost the race because of you!"
=== Cars 2 ===
* Bios
** "Number 95 Lightning McQueen is still a hotshot racecar, but his rookie days are past him. Now a permanent resident of Radiator Springs, Lightning has become a bona fide worldwide celebrity as winner of four Piston Cups. After his latest win, Lightning returns home to enjoy life in the slow lane for a while with sweetheart Sally, best friend Mater and the rest of his Radiator Springs family. His off-season is unexpectedly cut short when Mater inadvertently prompts Lightning to enter the World Grand Prix, a high profile, three-part exhibition race that will take him around the globe. With a fresh custom paint job and real, working headlights, Lightning sets off to Japan, Italy and England with Mater in tow for the adventure of a lifetime. But competing against the fastest cars in the world tests more than his racing skills when Lightning realizes his wide-eyed best friend may not be the pit chief nor ambassador he needs to navigate the unfamiliar international terrain."
*** Specifications
*** Top Speed: 200 mph (322 km/h)
*** Zero to 60 mph (0–100 km/h): 3.2 seconds
*** Engine: Full Race V-8
*** Power: 750 HP (760 PS, 560 kW)
=== Cars 3 ===
* Specifications
* Top Speed: 198 mph (319 km/h)
* 0 to 60 mph (0–100 km/h): 4 seconds
* Engine: Full Race V-8
* Power: 750 HP (760 PS, 560 kW)
* Bios
* "Lightning McQueen is world champion – a modern-day racing legend who’s riding high with seven Piston-Cup wins under his hood. Suddenly, he finds himself faced with a new generation of racers who threaten not only his dominance in the sport but the confidence that got him there. Determined to get back to the pole position, the #95 must decide if his love for racing is enough to fuel the comeback of his life."
* "With seven Piston Cup wins and a passion for motorsports, Lightning McQueen has earned the reputation of a world champion. His racing career is riding high until the formidable Jackson Storm and the next-generation racers enter the scene. For the first time, McQueen finds himself wondering if he truly is "quicker than quick, faster than fast". As he navigates a career crossroads, number 95 will discover what racing really means to him, and how being in the sport will shape his future."
== Gallery ==
. . .
== Quotes ==
* "Ka-chow!" - Cars
* "I'm faster than fast. Quicker than quick. I am lightning!" - Cars
* "Oh, Kori. There's a lot more to racing than just winning. I mean, taking the race by a full lap... Where's the entertainment in that?" - Cars
* "No, no. I wanted to give the folks a little sizzle." - Cars
* "Am I sorry I don't have a crew chief? No, I'm not. 'Cause I'm a one-man show." - Cars
* "Yo, Chuck. Chuck, what are you doing? You're blockin' the camera! Everyone wants to see the bolt." - Cars
* "Now, back away." - Cars
* "Ow! Whoa, team! Where are you going?" - Cars
* "Oh, OK, leave. Fine. How will I ever find anyone else who knows how to fill me up with gas? Adios, Chuck!" - Cars
* "Oh, whatever." - Cars
* "I love being me." - Cars
* "Yes, yes, yes! Lightning McQueen here, and I use Rust-eze Medicated Bumper Ointment, new rear end formula. Nothing soothes a rusty bumper like Rust-eeeze. Wow! look at that shine! Use Rust-eze, and you too, can look like me! Ka-chow!" - Cars
* "Mater?" - Cars
* "Holy Porsche! She's gotta be from my attorney's office." - Cars
* "I'm a precision instrument of speed and aerodynamics!" - Cars
* "Pch. Crazy grandpa car, what an idiot." - Cars
* "No Mater, I gotta finish this road, and I have to get out of here." - Cars
* "Whoa, whoa, easy now, Mater. You know who you're talking to? This is Lightning McQueen. I can handle anything." - Cars
* "It's good to be home, everybody." - Cars 2
* "I know Doc said these things were just old cups... but to have someone else win it just didn't feel right, you know?" - Cars 2
* "Thank you so much for having us, Sir Axlerod. I really look forward to racing. This is a great opportunity." - Cars 2
* "I'm coming for you, Storm." - Cars 3
* "I decide when I'm done." - Cars 3
* "This is my last chance, Cruz. Last! Final! Finito! If I lose, I'd never get to do this again!" - Cars 3
* "If you were a racer, you'd know what I'm talking about, but you're not! So you DON'T!!" - Cars 3
* "No, but I can't go out on the track and do the same old thing. It won't work." - Cars 3
* "I'm gonna keep racing. But before that, I got something I want to do." - Cars 3
== Trivia ==
* His racing number was going to be 57 at first, as a reference to John Lasseter's birth in 1957, but the filmmakers later changed it to "95", referencing Toy Story's release in 1995.
* Lightning is named after deceased Pixar supervising animator Glenn McQueen.
* For some reason, Lightning is in his original Rust-eze paint job in the second film's teaser trailer, even though it never appeared in the film. However, it could be that the filmmakers did not have his new customization completed at the time.
* One of the children in Toy Story 3 who plays in Sunnyside's Caterpillar Room wears a T-shirt that includes Lightning's bolt and racing number in the same style.
* A toy that looks similar to Lightning can be seen in the Butterfly Room in Toy Story 3.
* In the first film, Lightning noted the reason why he did not have any actual headlights was because he thought racers do not need them on a racetrack that is always lit with lights. However, in the second film, when he was being upgraded for the World Grand Prix, he decided to replace his headlight stickers with actual headlights, though Sally still calls him "Stickers".
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* His racing number, "95", is a reference to the year 1995, when Pixar's first feature-length film, Toy Story was released. Originally, his number was going to be 57, which references 1957 the year John Lasseter, the director of the first two Cars films, was born.
* Lightning's last name "McQueen" is a reference to Glenn McQueen, a supervising animator at Pixar who died in 2002.
* Lightning McQueen is unique among other Pixar protagonists, as he does both lose and then win; he gave up the Piston Cup to Chick Hicks so he can help The King finish his last race, but the loss was meant as a lesson for him, as he learned from Doc Hudson that there are more important things in life than winning, and his heroic act made him earn applause from his fans. Therefore, despite losing, McQueen is still considered the winner in the eyes of his fans and his new friends from Radiator Springs due to the actions of Chick Hicks.
* In the first official teaser trailer of Cars 2, for unknown reasons, Lightning McQueen has on his original Rust-eze customization, which never appeared in the sequel. It may be because the new paint job wasn't finalized at the time of the release of the teaser trailer.
* Likewise, in the first teaser trailer for Cars 3, McQueen is sporting the original Rust-eze logo when he crashes, unlike the final film with the same scene. His first paint job in the film likely wasn't finalized either at the time of the trailer's release.
* Lightning, along with other countless versions of him, have been released in the Cars, Cars Toons, Cars 2, and Cars 3 Die-Cast Lines.
* According to a Storytellers Book, Lightning's original sponsor before Rust-eze was Smell Swell, however, he still had the number 95.
* In Toy Story 3, in the Caterpillar Room at Sunnyside Daycare, you can see one of the kids with a white T-shirt with red sleeves and has in the middle of the shirt the 95 racing number with the lightning bolt of Lightning McQueen. A toy similar to Lightning can also be seen.
* Lightning's back bumper is yellow. This follows NASCAR's tradition of putting yellow rookie stripes on rookie drivers' cars.
* Lightning's design was inspired by NASCAR stock cars, and a more curvaceous Plymouth Superbird, 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona, and with some slight cues from the Ford GT40, Lola, and Porsche 911.
* ALL of Lightning McQueen's engine sounds come from NASCAR, including all his revs. In Cars, his sound comes from a Gen 4 NASCAR (could be a Chevy Monte Carlo, Ford Taurus, Pontiac GP or Dodge Charger). In Cars 2, his sound comes from a Chevy Impala SS, Ford Fusion, or Toyota Camry NASCAR from 2010 or 2011. In Cars 3, his sound comes from a Gen 5 NASCAR, which could also be a Chevy SS, Ford Fusion, or Toyota Camry NASCAR.
* There are lies and rumours that he has some other sounds from a Cobra or street supercar.
* After Lightning's redesign in Cars 2, he has working headlights instead of stickers. However, Sally still calls him "Stickers." His headlights still get removed in Piston Cup races and get patched up, like in Cars 3.
* In Tokyo, an advertisement for a vacuum cleaner named "Lightning McClean" is seen. Even in the Rust-Eze Racing Center
* Lightning has several names in other languages:
** His Spanish name is Rayo McQueen. In Spanish, "rayo" means "lightning", "beam" or "ray."
** His French name is Flash McQueen.
** In Polish, he is called Zygzak McQueen. (z-ih-g-z-ah-k) The word "zygzak" means "zigzag" in Polish.
** His Danish name is Lynet McQueen. The Danish word "lynet" means "the lightning."
** His Dutch name is Bliksem McQueen. The Dutch word "bliksem" means "lightning."
** His Hebrew name is "ספידי מקווין" (spidi mekwin, "Speedy McQueen"). "ספידי" is a transliteration of "Speedy", and he is named after the Warner Brothers character Speedy Gonzales.
** His Italian name is Saetta McQueen. The Italian word "saetta" means "flash of lightning."
** His Swedish name is Blixten McQueen. The Swedish word "Blixten" means "the flash."
** His Albanian name is Vetëtima McQueen. The Albanian word "Vetëtima" means "lightning."
** His Portuguese name is Faísca McQueen. The Portuguese word "faísca" means "spark."
** His Finnish name is Salama McQueen. The Finnish word "salama" means "lightning bolt."
** His Hungarian name is Villám McQueen. The Hungarian word "villám" means "lightning".
** His Czech name is Blesk McQueen. The Czech word "blesk" means "lightning".
** His Estonian name is Pikne McQueen. The Estonian word "pikne" means "lightning".
** His Hindi name is Bijalee McQueen. The Hindi word "bijalee" means "lightning", "roar", "thunderbolt", "bolt".
* Lightning and his girlfriend Sally appear in Radiator Springs Racers as audio-animatronics who greet guests in their ride vehicle. They announce the qualities that a racing champion needs and who can provide the tire changes by Luigi and Guido or paint refreshes by Flo and Ramone, while the computer controls the way that the ride vehicle turns into each character's business.
* Lightning McQueen has 14 different paint variants, ranging from subtly different amounts of dirt and dust to the completely new paint jobs near the end of the film.
* In Planes: Fire & Rescue, Mayday uses Lightning's famous catchphrase: "Ka-chow!", although the home video subtitles say that he is sneezing.
* A 1:55 scale die-cast of Lightning McQueen, along with Chick Hicks and Brush Curber, is used for one of the exhibit elements at The Science Behind Pixar.
* Lightning McQueen was used in the Jumping Tiles and Jumping Arrows game on Novel Games on September 10, 2019.
* In the children's book Struck by Lightning, it is revealed that "Lightning" is simply a nickname, and that his actual first name is Monty.
* In Cars 3, it was mentioned that McQueen got his first win in Glen Allen Speedway during his rookie debut.
* In Cars 3, McQueen never said his signature phrase: "Ka-chow."
* In Cars 2: The Video Game (DS version), Nigel Gearsley calls Lightning McQueen by ''Mr. McQueen''.
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* When Lightning and Mater arrive in Tokyo in Cars 2, they notice an advertisement that shows a vacuum cleaner called "Lightning McClean" and have a good laugh over it.
* Despite his dislike of Rust-Eze in the first film, he does have his own commercial where he tells the viewer about the purpose of the ointment.
* In spite of turning down Tex's offer to take on the Dinoco sponsor, "Dinoco McQueen" has appeared in several forms of merchandising and is even an alternate skin in Cars: The Video Game; those who play the full game with said skin creates the impression of the game taking place in a slightly alternate reality in which Lightning accepted Tex's offer.
* Lightning McQueen is unique among the Pixar protagonists, as he does technically both lose and win. He gave up his Piston Cup title to Chick Hicks so he can help The King finish his last race, but it was meant as a lesson for him as he learned that helping others is more important than winning races and that his heroic actions made him earn applause from the crowd. Therefore, despite losing, McQueen is still considered the true winner of the eyes of his fans and his new friends from Radiator Springs, due to the actions of Chick Hicks.
* With seven Piston Cups won by the time of Cars 3, Lightning has reached the same number of championships won by the King himself before his retirement.
* In Cars 3, it was mentioned that McQueen got his first win in Glen Allen Speedway during his rookie years prior to the events of the first film.
* When McQueen thinks of wanting the Dinoco sponsorship, his succeses are that he would be taken for a photoshoot with his trophy, being on different media magazines, going to the Chinese Theater in Hollywood with Mia and Tia as their new celebrity, starring in a fictionalized car-ified movie as "Lightning Storm" in which he is a racecar and a superhero with fighter jet characteristics who has to stop alien tripod spark plugs from invading Earth, and living in his own penthouse in Hollywood with modified magwheels and with Mia and Tia being colored gold.
* Lightning's first name is different in several languages:
** In the Spanish and Latin Spanish versions, he is called Rayo McQueen, which "rayo" is the Spanish meaning of the words "lightning", "beam", and "ray."
** In the French and French-Canadian versions, he is named Flash McQueen.
** In the Polish version, his first name is Zygzak (z-ih-g-z-ah-k). This means "zigzag" in Polish.
** In the Danish version, he is named Lynet McQueen. "Lynet" means "the lightning" in Danish.
** In the Dutch version, his first name is Bliksem, which means "lightning".
** In the Italian version, his first name is changed to Saetta, which is the Italian word for "flash of lightning".
** In the Swedish version, he is renamed Blixten McQueen. "Blixten" is the Swedish word for "the flash".
** In the Albanian version, he is called Vetëtima McQueen. "Vetëtima" means "lightning" in Albanian.
** In the Brazilian Portuguese version, his first name is changed to Relâmpago, which means lightning.
** In the European Portuguese version, his first name is changed to Faísca, which means "spark".
** In the Finnish version, he is named Salama McQueen. "Salama" means "lightning bolt" in Finnish.
** In the Hebrew version, his first name is changed to Spidi, which means "Speedy" and is a reference to the Looney Tunes character "Speedy Gonzales".
** In the Hungarian version, he is called Villám McQueen, which means "lightning".
* As a result of Lightning's first name being translated in several languages, most appearances of the name "Lightning McQueen" in text, across the entire Cars trilogy, get simply shorten down to simply "McQueen" in international cuts of the movies.
* The same scream that McQueen was on the simulator in Cars 3 was the same scream that Mater was deploying parachute while travelling to Buckingham Palace in Cars 2.
* Throughout the first film, Lightning had fourteen different appearances, counting the different amount of dirt and dust he received in several scenes.
* His catchphrase, "Ka-chow!", is said briefly by Mayday in Planes: Fire & Rescue, when he is showing some Rust-eze Medicated Bumper Ointment on his bumper. The Home video subtitles reveal he's sneezing.
* A life-size Lightning McQueen is preserved at the Petersen Automotive Museum.
* A 1:55 scale die-cast of Lightning McQueen, with Chick Hicks and Brush Curber, appears in one of the exhibit elements at The Science Behind Pixar.
* In the book, Cars Origins: Struck by Lightning, Lightning reveals that his original name was "Monty", short from Montgomery, and that "Lightning" is a nickname he acquired.
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* His racing number, "95" is a reference to the year 1995, when Pixar's first feature-length film, Toy Story was released. Originally, his number was going to be 57, which is the year John Lasseter was born, 1957.
* Lightning's last name "McQueen" is a reference to Glenn McQueen, a supervising animator at Pixar who passed away in 2002.
* In the first official teaser trailer of Cars 2, for unknown reasons, Lightning McQueen has on his Rust-eze customization, which never appeared in the sequel. It may be because the new paint job was not finalized at the time of the release of the teaser trailer.
** Likewise, in the first teaser trailer for Cars 3, McQueen is sporting the original Rust-eze logo when he crashes, unlike the final film with the same scene. His first paint job in the film likely wasn't finalized either at the time of the trailer's release.
* In Toy Story 3, in the Caterpillar Room at Sunnyside Daycare, the viewer can see one of the kids with a white T-shirt with red sleeves and has in the middle of the shirt the 95 racing number with the lightning bolt of Lightning McQueen. A toy similar to Lightning can also be seen.
* In the first film, Lightning's back bumper is yellow. This follows NASCAR's tradition of putting yellow rookie stripes on rookie drivers' cars.
* Lightning McQueen is unique among other Pixar protagonists, as he does technically both lose and win, as that he gave up his Piston Cup title to Chick Hicks so he can help The King finish his last race, but it was meant as a lesson for him as he learned that helping others is more important than winning races and that his heroic actions made him earn applause from the crowd. Therefore, McQueen still loses, but his good sportsmanship makes him the true winner of the eyes of his fans and his new friends from Radiator Springs, due to the actions of Chick Hicks.
* Lightning's design was inspired by stock cars, and a more curvaceous Le Mans endurance racers (Ford GT40).
* After Lightning's redesign in Cars 2, he has working headlights instead of stickers. However, Sally still calls him "Stickers".
* Fabulous Lightning McQueen's Mattel diecast prototype had the Dinoco logo on his hood.
* In Tokyo, an advertisement for a vacuum cleaner named "Lightning McClean" is seen.
* In Kinect Rush: A Disney/Pixar Adventure Lightning McQueen appears in his Cars 2 attire, however in his beta model his hood bears the logo for Rust-eze on it instead of the Piston Cup emblem, this was later fixed.
* In the Disney Infinity sequels, several of his quotes are omitted, including the "Whoo-hoo!" quote made when he does an air trick, and the quotes he says when meeting the cast members. Additionally, his quotes are somehow not covered by the subtitles in the third game.
* A 1:55 scale die-cast of Lightning McQueen, along with Chick Hicks and Brush Curber, appear in one of the exhibit elements at The Science Behind Pixar exhibition.
* His catchphrase, "Ka-chow!", is said briefly by Mayday in Planes: Fire & Rescue, when he is showing some Rust-eze Medicated Bumper Ointment on his bumper (although the DVD and Blu-ray subtitles make it as if Mayday was sneezing instead of saying, "Ka-chow!").
* In Cars, Lightning has fourteen different paint variants, ranging from different amounts of dirt and dust to his "Dinoco", "Cruising" and "Radiator Springs" paint jobs.
* There is a talking Lightning McQueen toy created in Hungary. Strangely, his number is 63, like Lee Revkins. Currently, no pictures have been found.
* Early concept arts suggest that he was originally blue, not red.