In Pixar’s Cars, what town does Lightning McQueen become stranded in after damaging the road?

In Pixar’s Cars, Lightning McQueen becomes stranded in Radiator Springs after damaging the road. The town is a fictional community on historic U.S. Route 66 in Carburetor County, California.

McQueen reaches Radiator Springs while trying to get to the Piston Cup tiebreaker in California. After being separated from his transport truck, he causes damage to the town’s main road and is ordered to repair it before leaving.

The town’s residents—including Doc Hudson, Sally Carrera, Mater, and Fillmore—gradually change McQueen’s priorities. Radiator Springs is inspired by real Route 66 communities that declined after interstate highways redirected traffic away from older roads.

A common mix-up is confusing Radiator Springs with Ornament Valley, the neighboring fictional landscape featured in the Cars setting and related attractions. Radiator Springs is the town where the first film’s central story takes place.