Lightning McQueen

Template:CTan

* Cars on the Road
* Cars 3
* Cars 2
* Cars

### Likes

Win, Being himself, his fan club, performances, Radiator Springs, hanging out with Mater, Sally and the rest of his friends, training with Doc, winning in first place, racing, Rust-eze, rusty cars, being proud of himself, accepting loss, his fellow racers, good sportsmanship, dino cars

### Dislikes

Lose, Rust-eze (formerly), rusty cars (formerly), his tires blowing out, racing crashes, Radiator Springs and its residents (formerly), being covered in tar, landing in the cactus patch, losing, being mocked, other race cars stealing his "Ka-chow!" bit, assassination, danger, embarrassment, wasting time, threatening to be retired, being called "old", his fellow racers in distress, bad sportsmanship, Chick Hicks, Francesco Bernoulli (formerly), Jackson Storm, clowns

### Goals

Win the California race (Cars; formerly).
Help Mater stop Miles Axlerod (Cars 2; succeeded).
Help Cruz achieve her dream by helping her win the race (Cars 3; succeeded).

### Friends/Allies

Mater (best friend and sidekick)
Sally Carrera (girlfriend)
Doc Hudson (mentor; deceased)
Cruz Ramirez (protégé)
Mack
Sheriff
Luigi
Guido
Fillmore
Sarge
Ramone
Flo
Lizzie
Red
Harv
Strip "The King" Weathers
Lynda Weathers
Tex Dinoco
Mia and Tia
Maddy McGear
Junior
Finn McMissile
Holley Shiftwell
Francesco Bernoulli
The Queen
Smokey
Junior Moon
River Scott
Louise Nash
Cal Weathers
Bobby Swift
Brick Yardley
Miss Fritter
Lewis Hamilton
Jeff Gorvette
Ivy
Mato

### Enemies

Chick Hicks (arch-rival)
Delinquent Road Hazards
Frank
**Lemons:**

* Sir Miles Axlerod
* Professor Zündapp
* Grem
* Acer
* J. Curby Gremlin
* Tubbs Pacer
* Vladimir Trunkov
* Victor Hugo
* Alexander Hugo
* Ivan
* Fred Pacer
* Petrov Trunkov

Jackson Storm (second arch-rival)
Sterling

### Type of Deuteragonist

No information

**Montgomery "Lightning" McQueen** is the main protagonist of the Disney/Pixar *Cars* franchise.

He is a famous race car who lives in a small desert town called Radiator Springs. Until in *Cars 3*, Lightning crashed in the race against Jackson Storm and become a crew chief of Cruz Ramirez while still racing. He even changed his favorite red color into the same color as Doc.

## Roles

### In films and shows

He is the main protagonist of Pixar's 7th full-lenght animated film *Cars* and it's 2017 threequel *Cars 3*, the deuteragonist of it's 2011 sequel *Cars 2* and *Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales*, one of the main characters of *Cars Toons: Tales of Radiator Springs* and one of the two main protagonists/deuteragonists (along with Mater) in the Disney +/Pixar TV show series *Cars on the Road*.

### In Video games

He serves as the main protagonist of *Cars: The Videogame*, *Cars: Radiator Springs Adventures*, *Cars: Race-o-Rama*, *Cars: Fast as Lightning*, *Cars 3: Driven to Win*, the deuteragonist in *Cars: Mater-National Championship*, *Cars Toons Mater's Tall Tales: The Videogame* and a major character in *Cars 2: The Videogame.*

## Portayls

* Owen Wilson
* Keith Ferguson
* Ben Rausch
* Kuno Becker
* Sergio Gutierrez Coto

## Personality

At first, McQueen was brash, selfish, and arrogant, overconfident that he can win the Piston Cup on his own, without help from any pit crew. However, he did also show a very lonely side due to not having any friends.

But Lightning soon comes to realize his hotshot ways will not help him when he ends up stranded in Radiator Springs, a town located on the fabled Route 66, thanks to a prank played on his big rig Mack by the Delinquent Road Hazards while traveling to the Piston Cup Championship tiebreaker in Los Angeles.

With help from Mater, Doc Hudson, Sally Carrera, and Sheriff, Lightning gets back on track and makes it to the race in time to face defending Piston Cup champion Strip "The King" Weathers and his arch-nemesis, the villainous Chick Hicks.

## Physical Appearance

McQueen has blue eyes and red paint as his main color. 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 he is originally sponsored by Smell Swell in the *World of Cars* book, he has a red ducktail spoiler, the Smell Swell logo on his hood, and his racing number, 95, painted green on his sides, along with a thin, yellow lightning bolt.

When McQueen 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, which 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 has less Piston Cup decals, which are all located on the bottom of his sides. He uses this when he is not racing, as he has his original paint job in *Cars (video game)|Cars: The Video Game*.

In his first appearance in *Cars 2*, McQueen 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 McQueen 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. Besides 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.

Soon after, as shown in *Cars Toons: Tales from Radiator Springs*, McQueen regains his bolt stickers and has all of his World Grand Prix markings removed. He regains the same number of decals from his original Rust-eze paint job, put in the exact same locations. On his spoiler, he has an inscription of Radiator Springs' name as well as a symbol of Radiator Cap Mountain.

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 and the flames 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.

## 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, and in *Cars: The Videogame* and *Cars: Mater-National Championship*, he has three boost tanks, which he has earned throughout his time in Radiator Springs.

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 power-sliding 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.

In all three installments of the *Disney Infinity* series, Lightning also has a tow hook, which can be used to tow other vehicles, a skill that is utilized for some missions in the Cars Play Set. If Lightning uses this ability on a player or toy that is not a car, such as Jack Sparrow, they will ride in a small wooden wagon that Lightning can pull around. In *Cars 2: The Video Game* and the *Disney Infinity* games; McQueen can also use weapons if he picks up one while racing. When using a Machine Gun or Missile Launcher, the compartments on his sides will open, allowing Lightning to fire them. In Mater's tall tales from the *Cars Toons* episodes, Lightning has been shown with a variety of other abilities, including:

* Performing stunts, although he did not successfully jump the Carburetor Canyon (*Mater the Greater*)
* Fighting Bulldozers and angering them with his red paint job (*El Materdor*)
* Possessing skills that resemble that of a dragon, and defeats Kabuto's Ninjas with little to no trouble (*Tokyo Mater*)
* Singing and playing the keyboard (*Heavy Metal Mater*)
* Monster Truck wrestling (*Monster Truck Mater*)
* Exploring space (*Moon Mater*)
* Taking care of crime (*Mater Private Eye*)
* Performing stunts in the air (*Air Mater*)

### Specifications

Lightning McQueen is a 2006 Custom-Built Piston Cup Racing stock car (a mixed NASCAR with some tweaks).

* Top speed: 198 mph (200 at the time of Cars 2)
* Acceleration: 0 to 60 mph (100 kph): 4 seconds (was 3.2 at the time of *Cars 2*)
* Engine: NASCAR 358 C. I. (Cubic inches) 5.9-liter V-8
* width: 78 inches
* Height: 53 inches
* length: 206 inches
* Drivetrain: Front Engine, Rear Wheel Drive layout (RWD)
* Horsepower: 750HP (900 at the time of 2006 film according to the Cars 1 video game)
* Fuel System: Carburetor.
* Fuel type: Gasoline, 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).

## Awards and Accomplishments

* 7-time Piston Cup champion
* World Grand Prix racer
* Won his debut race at Glen Allen
* Was supposed to be the first rookie to win Piston Cup, but gave it up by deciding to help The King finish his last race and also realizing that helping others is important than fame.
* Helped Radiator Springs survive

## 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 7 Piston Cups over the years and is currently working on his eighth. 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 and racing series. After he finished, he presumably went back to the Piston Cup. In 2017, he became Cruz Ramirez' crew chief. Additionally, Mater has told many tall tales that have featured McQueen in different professions than he usually can be seen in. Some of them include:

## Aliases

Throughout the series, McQueen has been seen with various different names and appearances, notably in the *Cars Toons* shorts.

* In *El Materdor*, McQueen is a bulldozer fighter named El McQueen.
* In *Tokyo Mater*, McQueen goes under the name of Lightning Dragon McQueen, a drift car that helps Mater during his race with Kabuto.
* In *Monster Truck Mater*, Lightning's stage name is "Frightening McMean", dubbed by the Referee Pitty after he mishears what McQueen says.
* In *Mater Private Eye*, Lt. McQueen is the detective alias of McQueen.
* In *Air Mater*, once Lightning joins the Falcon Hawks with Mater after one of the members is damaged, Lightning is called Lightning McQueen Hawk as to fit in with the names of the other Falcon Hawks.

He is usually referred to by Sally as "Stickers", because of him originally having headlight stickers rather than normal headlights. 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 is in Radiator Springs in the first film, and she says McQueen's first name while he is dreaming of racing in the Radiator Springs Grand Prix in *Cars: The Videogame*, along with mentioning to Mia and Tia about the winner of the Sally's Sunshine Circuit taking a drive with him.

He is occasionally referred to as "buddy" by Mater, who also at one time briefly 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 three 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 to her which caused Smokey to step down and put McQueen into the spot of being the crew chief for the first time.

## Creation and development

During research for the first film, John Lasseter and General Motors designers met to discuss the updated Corvette design, which Lightning McQueen and Chick Hicks were originally intended to be based on. However, changes to the plot resulted in both characters being left as generic stock racers. According to production designer Bob Pauley, Lightning's final design used elements from GT40s and Chargers, among many other models, to reflect his personality and role. Originally, Lightning's number was 57, John Lasseter's birthyear.

Athletic figures such as boxer Muhammad Ali and football quarterback Joe Namath were looked to during development of McQueen's personality, as well as popular musician Kid Rock, in order to create a cocky-but-likable character. Additionally, Michael Jordan was also looked to by the designers, due to his unique style of playing his sport.

## Appearences

### Films

* *Cars*
* *Cars 2*
* *Planes: Fire & Rescue* (*photo*)
* *Cars 3*

### Shorts

* *Mater and the Ghostlight*
* *Miss Fritter's Racing Skoool*
* *Dancing with the Cars*
* *Unparalleled Parking*

### Cars Toons

#### *Mater's Tall Tales*

* *Rescue Squad Mater*
* *Mater the Greater*
* *El Materdor*
* *Tokyo Mater*
* *Unidentified Flying Mater*
* *Monster Truck Mater*
* *Heavy Metal Mater*
* *Moon Mater*
* *Mater Private Eye*
* *Air Mater*
* *Time Travel Mater*

#### *Tales From Radiator Springs*

* *Hiccups*
* *Spinning*
* *The Radiator Springs 500½*
* *To Protect and Serve*

### Video Games

* *Cars: The Videogame*
* *Cars: Radiator Springs Adventures*
* *Cars: Mater-National Championship*
* *Cars: Race-O-Rama*
* *Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales: The Video Game*
* *Cars 2: The Video Game*
* *Kinect Rush: A Disney/Pixar Adventure*
* *Disney Infinity*
* *Disney Infinity: 2.0 Edition*
* *Cars: Fast as Lightning*
* *Cars: Hotshot Racing*
* *Disney Infinity: 3.0 Edition*
* *Cars 3: Driven to Win*
* *Disney Crossy Road*
* *LEGO The Incredibles*

### Comics

* *A Dirty Trick*
* *A Friend in Trouble*
* *A Great Contribution*
* *A Little... Certain!*
* *A New Champion*
* *A Surprise to Remember*
* *Air-Tow*
* *Always Faithful*
* *Artist Curves!*
* *Better Late Than Never*
* *Champion's Hospitality* (*mentioned*)
* *Cheaters Never Prosper*
* *Cops Can Be Everywhere*
* *Emerging from the Ground*
* *Family Secret*
* *Francesco's New Look!*
* *If You Get Off the Dunes*
* *...In Reverse!*
* *Inventory Emergency*
* *Looking for Lightning*
* *Mater's Specialty!*
* *Musical Solution!*
* *Mystery in the Desert*
* *Rusted, But Not... Finished!*
* *Silver Speed*
* *Space Rescue*
* *The Case of the Missing Muffler*
* *The Case of the Tire King*
* *The Lightning McQueen Tour*
* *The Message*
* *The Pit Stop*
* *Time Out*
* *Unfair... Replay!*
* *Wash Day*

## Relationships

### Friends/Allies

* Mater (best friend and sidekick)
* Sally Carrera (girlfriend)
* Doc Hudson † (mentor)
* Cruz Ramirez (protégé and successor)
* Mack
* Sheriff
* Luigi
* Guido
* Fillmore
* Sarge
* Ramone
* Flo
* Lizzie
* Red
* Harv
* Strip "The King" Weathers
* Lynda Weathers
* Tex Dinoco
* Mia and Tia
* Junior
* Not Chuck (formerly)
* Finn McMissile
* Holley Shiftwell
* Francesco Bernoulli
* The Queen
* Smokey
* Junior Moon
* River Scott
* Louise Nash
* Carl (formerly)
* Cal Weathers
* Bobby Swift
* Brick Yardley
* Miss Fritter
* Lewis Hamilton
* Jeff Gorvette
* Ivy
* Mato

### Enemies

* Chick Hicks (arch-rival)
* Delinquent Road Hazards
* Frank
* Sir Miles Axlerod
* Professor Zündapp
* Grem and Acer
* J. Curby Gremlin
* Tubbs Pacer
* Vladimir Trunkov
* Victor Hugo
* Alexander Hugo
* Ivan
* Fred Pacer
* Petrov Trunkov
* Jackson Storm (second arch-rival)
* Sterling
* Noriyuki and Sarah Goggs
* Wayne County Cryptid Busters

## Descriptions on LEGO.Com

### DUPLO *Cars* racing variant

In June 2010, LEGO made their two first Lightning McQueen cars in DUPLO. One of these was the *Cars* racing design. This variant had two pieces. One was the basic DUPLO *Cars* wheel piece, and the other was the DUPLO Lightning McQueen mold that fits over the wheels. This piece had many markings including a smile, lights, '95' printed on flames and exhaust pipes on the side panels, 'Rust • eze logo, eyes, and windows among other things.

### DUPLO Radiator Springs variant

Of the two variants of Lightning McQueen that were made in June 2010, the second of these was the DUPLO Lightning McQueen Radiator Springs variant. This variant featured McQueen's *Cars* Radiator Springs design. This variant had the same basic mold as the racing design, but the Radiator Springs design had different markings. This variant had white-wall tires instead of red, a smile, lights, 'Ka-ciao' stickers, eyes, windows, exhaust pipes and other side panel printings.

### System Radiator Springs 1st variant

*Hotshot rookie race car Lightning McQueen didn’t care about anything but fame and racing…until he got lost in Radiator Springs and met his new friends!*–LEGO.com

Lightning McQueen's first System variants were released in May 2011. There were many System variants released at this time. The first of these was his Radiator Springs design from 8200 Radiator Springs Lightning McQueen. This variant features many sponsor stickers, red wheels, as well as his other printings–smile, eyes, windows, '95,' lightning sign, exhaust pipes, and lights. His back tail is hinged up vertically, and he has no backlights, given the make of the tail.

### System Radiator Springs 2nd variant

*Hotshot rookie race car Lightning McQueen didn’t care about anything but fame and racing…until he got lost in Radiator Springs and met his new friends!*–LEGO.com

The second System Radiator Springs variant of Lightning McQueen was released in 8487 Flo's V8 Café. While this variant outwards looks the same as the one from 8200 Radiator Springs Lightning McQueen, it is not completely the same. The difference between the two is while the Lightning McQueen from 8200 Radiator Springs Lightning McQueen had light grey 1x4 pieces helping to connect on the side panels, the Lightning McQueen from 8487 Flo's V8 Café has dark grey 1x4 pieces. Otherwise, the two Lightning McQueens are the same.

### System *Cars* racing variant

*With his shiny new red rims, Lightning McQueen is back on the racing circuit and ready to burn rubber. Can he beat the odds and take home the championship?*–LEGO.com

Another of his first System variants is Lightning McQueen's *Cars* racing variant. This variant featured an open mouth, '95' printed on flames on his side panels, exhaust pipes, lights, eyes, and windows. This variant, like the radiator Springs variant, has a hinged back tail, but unlike the Radiator Springs variant, McQueen has markings on his tail.

### Ultimate Building

One of the first System Variants of McQueen is an "Ultimate Build", 8484 Ultimate Building Lightning McQueen. For information about this variant, please see the set.

### 1st System *Cars 2* racing variant

*Fitted out with golden rims and new body paint, Lightning McQueen is in for the biggest, toughest race of his life! He’ll have to out-drive his rivals all over the world if he wants to win in the World Grand Prix!*–LEGO.com

Lightning McQueen has three *Cars 2* system variants. The first of these was released in 8423 World Grand Prix Racing Rivalry. This variant has a red 2x8 baseplate with a blue 2x6 baseplate on top, and green 1x2 inside pieces. In this variant, McQueen has a redesigned tail than from his *Cars* variants. Lightning McQueen in this variant has back red lights, a flat 1x4 red brick, with 'World Grand Prix' printed on the top as his tail. He also has another 1x4 flat red brick on his back, this one printed with 'Powered by Allinol.' The wheels of this variant are white, rimmed with gold. McQueen's side panels are printed with '95' printed on flames, and exhaust pipes. He has lights, a frowning mouth, 'Hudson Hornet Piston Cup' printed on his hood, side windows, half-closed eyes, and printings on his roof.

### 2nd System *Cars 2* racing variant

*Fitted out with golden rims and new body paint, Lightning McQueen is in for the biggest, toughest race of his life! He’ll have to out-drive his rivals all over the world if he wants to win in the World Grand Prix!*–LEGO.com

The second of Lightning McQueen's *Cars 2* variants released in 8679 Tokyo International Circuit. This variant has a red 2x8 baseplate with a blue 2x6 baseplate on top, and yellow 1x2 inside pieces. All of the three early *Cars 2* variants have the same printings.

### 3rd System *Cars 2* racing variant

*Fitted out with golden rims and new body paint, Lightning McQueen is in for the biggest, toughest race of his life! He’ll have to out-drive his rivals all over the world if he wants to win in the World Grand Prix!*–LEGO.com

The third of Lightning McQueen's *Cars 2* variants released in 8639 Big Bentley Bust Out. This variant has a light grey 2x8 baseplate with a black 2x6 baseplate on top, and green 1x2 inside pieces. All of the three early *Cars 2* variants have the same printings.

### DUPLO *Cars 2* racing variant

In May 2011, McQueen was also released in his *Cars 2* DUPLO variant. While the same two molds were used, this variant had different printings. These printing consists of eyes, mouth, windows, 'Hudson Hornet Piston Cup', lights, exhaust pipes, light grey/silver, black, and yellow wheels, along with '95' printed on flames.

### 4th System *Cars 2* racing variant

*McQueen is not about to let Francesco steal the victory that is rightfully his. So if Francesco wants to insult him, McQueen is more than ready to get him right back with a bumper sticker of his own! “Ka-ciao, Francesco!”*–LEGO.com

In 2012, LEGO released a final to-date system Lightning McQueen. This McQueen was a newer *Cars 2* variant. While it was similar to his older *Cars 2* variant, there were a few changes made. The wheels in the old variant had gold hubs, whereas the wheels in the newer variant had red hubs. This variant also had a new face expression, the lights are turned on, and he has a plate displaying 'Ka-Ciao, Francesco!' at his rear. Lightning McQueen's tail in this variant was also built differently to the one from the last variant.

## Cameos and other appearances

### Commercials

Lightning makes numerous appearances in commercials for other companies, like State Farm Insurance, Target, AT&T, Hertz, and Opel, also promoting the *Cars* films. He also appears in a Russian advertisement that promotes road safety, where Mater is teaching a forklift how to cross the road safely.

As each short promoting *Planes* begins, McQueen and Mater are seen driving along, before they feel a vibration and look up to see some planes flying over them.

A band-aid of Lightning McQueen can be seen briefly in *Finding Dory* on a truck driver's hand to reference the very next film.

Lightning makes a cameo in *Planes: Fire & Rescue*, where a picture of him is seen on a newspaper that Sparky is reading with Dusty Crophopper and his friends.

In *The Muppets*, on a billboard above Hollywood, McQueen can be seen with Mater, Finn McMissile, and Holley Shiftwell advertising for *Cars 2* coming to Blu-Ray, Combo Pack, and DVD.

In a short combining *Cars*, LEGO and *Top Gear*, Lightning, Mater, and Cruz head to the *Top Gear* test track for a race against the Stig.

### Other Movies

In *Ralph Breaks the Internet*, McQueen appears on a wallpaper advertising *Cars*, when Vanellope von Schweetz visits the Oh My Disney world.

### TV Series

An inanimate version of McQueen makes a cameo in the *Amphibia* episode "All In", as a car in a parking lot where the Boonchuys and Domino II hide in. It features a license plate represented by a white rectangle, making it resemble the "Ka-Ciao, Francesco" sticker he appears with in *Cars 2*.

## Video games

### *Cars: The Video Game*

Lightning appears in the video game based on the first film, preparing to win his first Piston Cup. Throughout the story, he competes in races with other cars, goes tractor tipping with Mater, learns powersliding lessons from Doc, gets taught about driving backwards, and gets his gear back from the Tuner Cars, who were ordered by Chick to steal it. After that, he wins the next Piston Cup race and comes to an agreement to have three Grands Prix around Radiator Springs, before competing in the final Piston Cup race. He manages to win, and goes on a drive with Mater and Sally, leaving his trophy with Doc's.

### *Cars: Radiator Springs Adventures*

Lightning appears in the cutscenes of the activities, encountering the Radiator Springs townsfolk. He is also controlled by the player in some of the activities and in all Legends Races.

### *Cars: Mater-National Championship*

In the *Cars: Mater-National* game, Lightning invites racers from around the world to take part in the Mater-National, which is supposed to take place while his racing headquarters is being built. He first comes across Philip, a British car who struggles to drive on the correct side of America's roads, and later races a German car named Otto Von Fassenbottom.

When he arrives in Tailfin Pass, he meets a Japanese drifter named Koji and challenges him to a race. Finally, he wins in a race that is held at the new racing stadium, competing against racers such as an Italian car named Giovanni. Luigi and Guido want them to race again, to which they agree to do a team relay. Afterwards, the headquarters is finished, and Lightning and the rest of the townsfolk and visitors get together for a photo.

### *Cars: Race-O-Rama*

Lightning is one of the playable characters in *Cars: Race-O-Rama*. In the story mode, he races with Doc's Racing Academy at the Radiator Springs Speedway. However, he finds out that the green cars who are competing against them are not racing cleanly after they purposely cause a couple of Doc's students to crash. It is learned straight away that the green students are working for Chick, who plots to win the Race-O-Rama series and take over Radiator Springs.

For each new location, Lightning gets his bodywork customized for racing against Candice, El Machismo, and Stinger, who try to help Chick. Finally, he challenges Chick to the final race at the Radiator Springs Speedway and wins the series. However, Chick vows to get back for his revenge. Meanwhile, Candice, El Machismo, and Stinger apologize to Lightning for their behavior, to which he allows them to stop by the Doc Hudson Racing Academy any time they want.

### *The World of Cars Online*

Lightning would appear around the town in the now-closed online game *The World of Cars Online*, outside his racing headquarters, where players can buy items from. Players were also to play as Lightning in the Lightning Storm McQueen minigame that puts him against a train version of Emperor Zurg from the *Toy Story* franchise.

### *Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales: The Video Game*

Lightning only makes three appearances in the gameplay, compared to the clips from the episodes being used in the game. In the final level of *Mater the Greater*, rather than being at Carburetor Canyon, he appears in mid-air and falls down as the player prepares to make one last dive into a paddling pool. It would be assumed that Lightning fails to land in the pool since it is big enough for only one car. During the final level of *Monster Truck Mater*, after the player's character jumps off Dr. Frankenwagon's monster, Lightning appears out of nowhere while as a monster truck and follows the player around the arena as the monster tries to crush them. As the player completes the final level of *Unidentified Flying Mater*, Lightning joins the player, Mater and Mator as they get chased by the military, before being rescued by Mator's mother.

### *Cars 2: The Video Game*

In the game based on the second film, Lightning helps out at C.H.R.O.M.E. to work for secret agents. He is playable from the start and has medium speed and power. He also has two unlockable customizations, Carbon Fiber Lightning and Radiator Lightning, which are unlocked by collecting certain badges and crests. To get the Carbon Fiber Lightning customization, the player has to collect twenty badges and crests so to collect the "Agent - Third Class" crest, while the Radiator Lightning customization is unlocked by hitting a landing airplane three times in Runway Tour. Two other customizations of Lightning can be downloaded on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game. These are Dragon Lightning (which is from *Tokyo Mater*) and Daredevil Lightning (which is from *Mater the Greater*).

### *Kinect Rush: A Disney/Pixar Adventure*

Lightning appears in the Fancy Drivin' level, where he tries to find someone to compete in his racing team. Seeing that that someone is the player, Mater sets up a challenge to do fancy driving. After the level is complete, Lightning sees that the player has done some great driving and will be perfect for being added to his team. The player can also play as Lightning in the *Cars* levels by collecting all the Buddy Coins in each level.

### *Disney Infinity*

Lightning McQueen is available as one of the playable characters in *Disney Infinity*. His figure comes with Holley and the piece for the Cars Play Set. In the play set, he and the townsfolk get ready for a racing event coming to Radiator Springs. A crystal figure of Lightning is also available to use in the play set and Toy Box. Both versions are compatible in the Toy Box of the second and third games, with the level cap increased to 20, and a Skill Tree added.

In the first game, Lightning has an exclusive Toy Box Adventure called Lightning's Collector Course, where the player has to collect orbs around a stunt arena.

### *Cars: Fast as Lightning*

Lightning first appears as a character that the player plays as in two tutorials at the start of the game. He is the last character to be unlocked on the Radiator Springs map and will unlock his pit and the Doc Hudson Statue for putting around the town. Before he is unlocked, he also gives the player some missions that relate to races, such as winning a number of races with the selected character, perform a number of tricks, win races without crashing, or placing selected track pieces and decorations around the track.

He also has seven customizations that can be unlocked by winning practice races on his track or purchase them with gems. They are Retro Look, Champion, Winter, Speed Demon, ICE, Eastern Breeze, and Neon McQueen.

### *Cars 3: Driven to Win*

Lightning McQueen appears in *Cars 3: Driven to Win*. In the story, he uses a simulator at the studio filming Chick Hicks' talk show to do a race with Cruz, Smokey, and Doc. When Chick begins to talk to the camera about Lightning's career, the latter reminds him and Natalie Certain about how racing is something to experience, only to find out, after Chick has Storm speak, that the studio has been recording everything, and is challenged by Storm to another race on the studio's simulator.

Lightning is one of the playable characters available from the start of the game, in his second Rust-eze paint job from *Cars 3*. He is also playable in his "Fabulous Lightning McQueen" paint job, that is unlocked with an update patch of the game released on various dates depending on when the film was released in the player's country.

### *Cars: Lightning League*

Lightning appears as a playable character in *Cars: Lightning League*. He is the first character playable from the start.

### *LEGO The Incredibles*

Lightning McQueen appears as an unlockable character in the *LEGO The Incredibles* video game, being unlocked by a Pixar Family Build in Waterfront when the player completes all of the story missions in the game. McQueen can be used to compete in races, fight enemies, use jumps and ramps, and bounce on trampolines, but he cannot pull levers, grab onto ladders or ledges, compete in races that require flying characters, perform special attacks, pick up items left by robbers, build bricks, double-jump, jump onto bombs, turn handles, nor survive when in contact with the ocean. However, he does have the special ability of using his headlights in really dark areas that only characters with the power of light can access. He can also drive fast just like the other fast characters. Unlike other vehicles in the game, McQueen steers in a similar manner to humans.

His appearance is based after the *Cars 3* Lego set 10730 Lightning McQueen Speed Launcher.

## Disney Parks

Lightning appears in Cars Land at Disney's California Adventure, as a "drive-around" character, and regularly stops outside the Cozy Cone Motel's office. He originally appeared in his World Grand Prix paint job from *Cars 2*, but was changed to his *Cars 3* design in 2017. In addition, Lightning would also "talk" to the guests and interact with them every few moments. Beginning in 2018, throughout the Halloween season, Lightning dresses as a superhero.

During safety protocols in the park due to COVID-19, Lightning does not drive around and remains stationary next to the Stanley statue in front of the Radiator Springs courthouse.

An audio-animatronic version of Lightning appears in the ride Radiator Springs Racers, first with Sally Carrera as they greet the riders while heading into either Luigi's or Ramone's, and again at the end of the ride with Mater. He appears in his original Rust-eze paint job.

In Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy at Disney's Hollywood Studios, Lightning appears in animatronic form to offer guests advice on how to become a racer and employs the use of the driving simulators from *Cars 3*. When Chick Hicks hacks into the simulator, McQueen challenges him to a virtual race to settle their unfinished business.

He is seen in the Paint the Night Parade and Hong Kong Disneyland, and Disney California Adventure with Mack and DJ, and was seen with Mater in the Pixar Play Parade before it moved to Disneyland in 2018 for Pixar Fest. It is unknown whether or not he’ll return to the parade in the future.

A statue of Lightning can be seen alongside one of Sally outside the entry to the *Cars*-themed building at Disney's Art of Animation Resort.

## Trivia

* Lightning was named after the late actor Steve McQueen
* Chris Pratt, Brad Pitt, James McAvoy, Jason Bateman, Bradley Cooper, Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Paul Rudd, Chris Evans, Chris Pine, James Marsden, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Sudeikis, Elijah Wood, Tom Hardy, Matthew McConaughey, the late Paul Walker, Freddie Prince Jr., Nicholas Cage, Ewan McGregor, Tobey Maguire, Zachary Levi, Dane Cook, Leonardo DiCaprio, James Franco, Ethan Hawke, Joaquin Phoenix, Christian Bale, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Casey Affleck, Mark Wahlberg, Ben Stiller, Tom Cruise, Adam Sandler, Michael J. Fox, John Cusack, Vin Diesel, Mike Myers, Keanu Reeves and Johnny Depp were all considered for the role of Lightning McQueen before Owen Wilson was casted.
* The emblem "95" is a reference to the year 1995 when the first *Toy Story* (and Pixar) movie was released. Originally, though, his number was going to be "57" (John Lasseter's birth year).
* Lightning McQueen was named after late supervising Pixar animator Glenn McQueen who died of melanoma in 2002.
* McQueen happened to be one of the most popular characters of Pixar.
* 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.
* The biggest reason why Chick and McQueen are arch-nemeses is that both hate each other very much at the same level.
* Lightning McQueen, along with Woody from the *Toy Story* films, are the only Pixar movie franchise protagonists to be the protagonist of more than one movie in their series.
	+ Although in *Cars 2*, Lightning was the deuteragonist.
		- 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 the late 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 that 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".
		- When Lightning and Mater arrive in Tokyo in *Cars 2*, they notice an advertisement that shows a vacuum cleaner called "Lightning McClean" and has 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.
		- Despite 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 in the eyes of his fans and his new friends from Radiator Springs, due to the actions of Chick Hicks (especially considering Chick cheated).
		- 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 before the events of the first film.
		- When McQueen thinks of wanting the Dinoco sponsorship, his successes are that he would be taken for a photo shoot with his trophy, being in 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 race car 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 mag wheels and with Mia and Tia being colored gold.
		- In *Cars on the Road*, it is revealed that McQueen is a dinophile, someone who is heavily interested in dinosaurs. This might partially explain his past interest in wanting to race for Dinoco.
		- Lightning's first name is different in several languages:
			* In the Spanish and Latin Spanish versions, he is called Rayo McQueen, of 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 named 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".
			* In the Romanian version, he is called Fulger McQueen, which means "lightning".
		- As a result of Lightning's first name being translated into several languages, most appearances of the name "Lightning McQueen" in text, across the entire Cars trilogy, get simply shortened 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 a parachute while traveling to Buckingham Palace in *Cars 2*.
		- McQueen's theme songs that match his personality are Real Gone by Sheryl Crow and Run That Race by Dan Auerbach. In fact, "Real Gone" alludes to McQueen's cocky personality about wanting to win the Piston Cup, while *Run That Race* alludes to McQueen having fun racing in the Piston Cup with his friends Cal and Bobby, all while pulling jokes after each race.
		- Throughout the first film, Lightning had fourteen different appearances, counting the different amounts 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 for ''Montgomery'', and that "Lightning" is a nickname he acquired.
		- In all three *Cars* movies, Lightning does not directly win any of the main races in the movies due to forfeiting the win to help King, having the race interrupted by the Lemon's scheme, and switching out with Cruz in the second half, although he is still branded as the winner due to sharing the same number as Cruz. Because of this, as stated in Trivia question #10, Lightning McQueen is unique among the other characters due to his role and that his main stories teach us that there are more important things to life than winning and you don't often win in life.

## External links

* Lightning McQueen on the Love Exalted Wiki
* Lightning McQueen on the Protagonists Wiki
* Lightning McQueen on the Heroes Wiki
* Lightning McQueen on the Heroic Benchmark Wiki
* Lightning McQueen on the Disney Wiki
* Lightning McQueen on the Pixar Wiki
* Lightning McQueen on the *World of Cars Wiki*

## Navigation

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