Lightning McQueen

**Lightning McQueen** is the main character of the Cars franchise. He is the protagonist of Cars and Cars 3, and the deuteragonist of Cars 2.

Lightning is a famous race car who learns there is more to life than just racing and winning following a brief but life-changing stay in the remote town of Radiator Springs he was stranded in after getting lost on the way to California.

## Background

### Personality

At first, Lightning is self-centred 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. During the final race, his new personality made him change his ways when he decided to accept defeat by forfeiting the Piston Cup so he can help Strip Weathers finish his last race, realizing that helping others is more important than winning even if it allowed Chick Hicks to win. He has since learned to enjoy making friends and treating others with respect.

### Physical Appearance

Lightning has blue eyes and primary has warm colours in his paint jobs. His car model is said to be a stock car and a 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 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 fewer 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: The Video Game.

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.

Soon after, as shown in Cars Toons: Tales from Radiator Springs, Lightning 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 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 colours 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 centre, he receives his electronic suit 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 the 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 colours, the Rust-eze logo on his hood, and 95 on his backside, 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.

In Cars on the Road, Lightning was given a simple paint job for the road trip with Mater. He maintained his signature lightning bolt and number "95" on his sides, but did not feature his Rust-Eze sponsor or racing livery. On his hood, his Rust-Eze logo was replaced with the symbol of Radiator Springs with the words "On the Road" underneath. On his rear, he had a "95" sticker next to his right brake light.

## Film Appearances

### Cars

Lightning is running in the Dinoco 400 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 the finish line, his back tires blow out. Rather than winning the race, he barely manages a tie with Strip Weathers and Chick Hicks. His pit crew quit on 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, which 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 to get the sponsorship, 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 Doc Hudson and Sally Carrera. Although at first rude to Doc, McQueen does find out about 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 driving 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, Sheriff, Ramone, along with Doc Hudson who has acted as McQueen's new crew chief arrived to support him. McQueen even tried the new tricks his friends taught him 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. Humbly 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, the best finish for him much to the crowd's amazement. As McQueen pushes the injured racer to the finish line, The King points out to Lightning that he sacrificed his Piston Cup win to save him, only for Lightning to say that a grumpy old race car once told him that "it's just an empty cup.", having learned that friendship is important.

Impressed by his good sportsmanship, Tex 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 his permanent racing 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 forevermore once again becomes a historical tourist attraction.

### Cars 2

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, especially Mater. Lightning shows his new Piston Cup which was renamed after the now-late Doc Hudson. Lightning still wanted to continue winning even though Doc had told him that they were just old cups. Mater assured him that Doc would have been proud of Lightning. Soon Lightning and Mater spend the day together doing fast-paced activities. While Mater has fun, Lightning is overexcited and just wants to spend a quiet evening with Sally, much to Mater’s sadness. 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 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 to 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 that he actually enjoys. 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 the 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 race cars 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 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 lose 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, gets 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 begins 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 race cars have crashed out as a result of their fuel blowing up once again. This leads to everyone now completely being concerned about its safety, which makes Axlerod decide that the last race in London will still be held, but no longer 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 tracks 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. Lightning notes they are the ones who want him dead, which they confirm but state that it's not personal. Luckily, everyone from Radiator Springs shows 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 attempts 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 honoured 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.

### Cars 3

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, with 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, get 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 favour 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 centre. 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 thanks his best friend for the advice. Later, he finds Cruz and begins to apologize to her for his rudeness. 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 the 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 honouring 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.

### Short Films

#### Mater and the Ghostlight

Lightning appears in the short, seen at Flo's V8 Café 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 leaves and says 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.

#### Miss Fritter's Racing Skoool

In this short, Lightning and Cruz Ramirez watch a commercial for Miss Fritter's Racing Skoool. Later, after watching the commercial, Lightning notices one of Cruz's trophies topple and break, explaining to Cruz that going to Miss Fritter's school program is too dangerous to attend.

## Television Appearances

### Cars Toons

Lightning appears in every episode of Mater's Tall Tales released.

In each episode, a random thing makes Mater mention to Lightning things he did years ago. Lightning listens to each of Mater's stories, and always makes a comment of disbelief about them. Lightning's comments often make Mater say that Lightning was also there. Sometimes, Lightning gets into trouble depending on the story's subject, such as being trapped in a burning building in Rescue Squad Mater, unable to reach the end of Carburetor Canyon in Mater the Greater, and being chased by bulldozers in El Materdor. Otherwise, he would help Mater on numerous occasions, such as taking out Kabuto's ninjas in Tokyo Mater, arresting Big D in Mater Private Eye, and catching a falling Mater in Air Mater. However, Lightning never believes that these stories ever happened, because he knows he would not have been present, but he would then usually see someone or something that comes from Mater's stories, leaving him either shocked or confused. However, there are a couple of times where he fails to see these, such as when he fails to see Mater fly at the end of Unidentified Flying Mater (due to trying to get away from the noises Mater was making), and does not see his biggest fans, Mia and Tia, cheering for Mater like how they did in Mater's story in El Materdor (due to that he himself was being chased by a herd of bulldozers).

In Hiccups, after having a drink at Flo's V8 Café, Lightning gets the hiccups, which all of the residents try to help cure them. They eventually go away after Sally kisses Lightning on the cheek.

In Spinning, he notices Guido having great skills with spinning a sign and watches along with a crowd consisting of some visitors and most of the residents. After Guido catches the sign from the air on a set of tires, Lightning and the crowd congratulate him, before they drive away.

In The Radiator Springs 500½, he dresses up as Stanley for the town's annual "Stanley Days" celebration, planning to do a leisurely drive with the townsfolk, until a group of Baja racers led by Sandy Dunes arrives to challenge him to a race, which he gets customized for off-road racing. However, during the race, Lightning and the other racers take a wrong turn after Mater confused them by saying that left is right when he actually meant that it is correct. Following this, they go over bumpy hills and a cliff, drive through a cactus patch, get covered in soot from some tailpipes in a cavern, and come across a spooky forest, where they get frightened by all of the corpses scattered around, before arriving back in Radiator Springs.

### Cars on the Road

Lightning appears in the mini-series Cars on the Road alongside Mater. When Mater reveals he is leaving to attend his sister's wedding, Lightning offers to go with him, and make it a road trip (though he originally suggested riding in Mack's trailer). Before heading out on the road, Ramone gives McQueen a new paint job. While on the road, the two friends visit a several places, such as a dino park, a haunted hotel, a land speed racing event, a circus, and much more. McQueen and Mater also make friends with a dancing monster truck named Ivy, who they meet in "The Legend" and was thought to be the legendary "Bigfoot".

When they arrive at Mater's family home in "Gettin' Hitched", McQueen was surprised to learn his best friend came from a wealthy family and grew up in a mansion.

## Other Appearances

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 in 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.

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

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 within Cars 2.

## 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 the 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 entrance to the Cars-themed building at Disney's Art of Animation Resort.