Lightning McQueen/Trivia

* 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.
* Lightning McQueen makes a reappearance as one of many extra playable Pixar characters in Lego The Incredibles.