In Pixar’s Cars, Lightning McQueen gets stranded in the fictional Arizona town of Radiator Springs.
McQueen accidentally damages the town’s main road while fleeing from Sheriff, and the court orders him to repair it. During the work, he meets residents including Mater, Sally Carrera, Doc Hudson, Ramone, Flo, and Fillmore. The town becomes the central setting for the film’s emotional story.
Radiator Springs is presented as a once-thriving stop along U.S. Route 66. Its decline follows the construction of Interstate 40, which diverts traffic away from the old road. This setting reflects the real history of Route 66 communities that lost business after modern highways bypassed them.
The name is sometimes confused with real Route 66 towns, but Radiator Springs itself is fictional. Pixar based its visual research on real American Southwest landscapes and Route 66 locations.