In Pixar's 2006 film Cars, the highway leading to Radiator Springs is Route 66.
Route 66 was one of the best-known highways in the United States. It originally connected Chicago with Santa Monica and passed through several states, including Arizona and New Mexico. The road became strongly associated with roadside businesses, motels, and long-distance travel.
In Cars, Radiator Springs is presented as a town bypassed by a newer interstate highway. Its decline reflects the real-world effect that modern roads had on many communities along older routes. The film turns that historical background into the setting for Lightning McQueen's unexpected stay.
The route is also central to the film's visual identity. The story uses desert landscapes, neon signs, vintage businesses, and road-trip imagery associated with the American Southwest. Route 66 is sometimes called the “Mother Road,” a nickname popularized by John Steinbeck's 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath.