In Pixar's Cars 3, the racing town of Thomasville is in Georgia.
Thomasville is where Lightning McQueen seeks help from Smokey, Doc Hudson's former crew chief and mentor. McQueen travels there with Cruz Ramirez after realizing that understanding Doc's past may help him compete with the newer generation of racers. The town's name refers to Thomasville, Georgia, a real city in the southern United States.
The film presents Thomasville as an important center of stock-car racing history. Smokey and other veteran racers explain how Doc raced there and how his career changed after his crash. This history gives McQueen a deeper connection to his former mentor and provides the emotional foundation for his training.
Thomasville should not be confused with Radiator Springs, which is the fictional community in the first film, or with the real Arizona landscapes that influence Cars' visual setting. Cars 3 moves the story through several American locations, but Thomasville is specifically tied to Georgia and Doc Hudson's racing past.