Happy 10 Years in Radiator Springs, Lightning McQueen!

**Happy 10 Years in Radiator Springs, Lightning McQueen** is a special intended to celebrate the tenth anniversary of *Cars*.

## Plot

Lightning McQueen is getting ready for the last race of another Piston Cup season. He is excited to meet his friends in the pits, since they usually attend every season finale, but they have not showed up this time. Mack explains that they could not make it due to an excessive amount of customers, though Lightning still finds that a little suspicious.

In Radiator Springs, Wally the Walmart truck delivers a cake to Flo's V8 Cafe. When he asks what it is for, Flo and Doc explain that a party is being held to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Lightning McQueen living in Radiator Springs. Wally is interested in attending, but cannot due to a heavy delivery schedule. Meanwhile, Ramone is painting a banner while Guido is blowing balloons, both of whom are waiting for Mater to arrive to help hang them up.

At the junkyard, Mater wakes up and, upon realizing what is happening today, excitedly rushes over to Radiator Springs to hang everything up. While hanging the banner, Mater reminisces about the time he and Lightning first met at the impound lot, then mentions a present he got for the party. However, he begins to freak out upon realizing he did not get a present and frantically asks the other residents for ideas until Sally calms him down. She suggests he takes a drive to keep himself calm and be able to think better, which he does after he finishes hanging the banner.

Mater passes by the tractor pasture and thinks Tractor Tipping might give him ideas. While in the field, he thinks about the time he first took Lightning tractor tipping, then is chased away by Frank. Later, Mater decides to drive backwards to help himself think. This makes him think about when he taught Lightning how to drive backwards.

Back in Radiator Springs, Luigi and Guido are inviting guests to the party, which include Fred, Brick Hicks, Mia and Tia, and Steve, the latter of whom they have trouble with due to his poor memory.

As Mater continues driving along, he passes by Radiator Springs Speedway where he is reminded of the Mater-National he and Lightning hosted and one of the racers, Koji, who participated. He is enjoying the memories, but realizes that they are not helping him think, so he keeps driving. Soon, it starts to get dark and Mater decides to head back, but when he sees Siddeley flying above, taking Finn and Holley to the party, he has one more memory, which is of the time he was a secret agent.

As the last of the guests arrive, Luigi and Guido hear Mack's horn and tell everyone to keep quiet. Mater shows up, but hides behind Flo's V8 Cafe, worried about what to do with the situation regarding the present. As Mack pulls into Radiator Springs, Lightning exits his trailer while everyone yells, "Surprise!" He is thankful for the party, but notices that Mater is not present. Mater eventually plucks up courage to enter the party and tell Lightning about the whole situation. Lightning forgives him, claiming that the party itself is enough of a present and sings "Find Yourself". After the song, Mater begins crying due to how beautifully he thought Lightning sang it.

Soon, the party is starting and Lightning and Mater climb up to Flo's Secret Cabin to sing "Get Your Kicks in Radiator Springs on Route 66" with the band pitties.

## Trivia

* The special takes place on June 9th, the day *Cars* came out.
* Mater's flashbacks are of events from *Cars*, *Cars: The Video Game*, *Cars: Mater-National Championship*, and *Cars 2*. Gameplay footage of the video games is used.
	+ Groovy initially planned to use footage from the two films, but decided it would be too "copyright risky" and did remakes of the scenes instead.
* As tributes, the special features two references to other YouTube users who made videos about *Cars*:
	+ The *Cars 2* flashback was done in a style reminiscent of videos created by YouTuber lightningspeed719.
	+ Flo's Secret Cabin is a reference to a series of videos created by ianmacdon, now ToyzTV, in 2011.
* When Mater is taking the balloons to Flo's, the songs he sings is to the tune of the *Thomas & Friends* song, "Party Time."