In Pixar’s Cars, which historic highway town does Lightning McQueen accidentally enter?

In Pixar’s Cars, Lightning McQueen accidentally enters Radiator Springs.

After falling from Mack’s trailer during the night, Lightning follows a road and reaches the isolated desert town. His reckless driving damages the road, leading the local judge, Doc Hudson, to order him to repair it before leaving.

Radiator Springs is a fictional community on U.S. Route 66. The film presents it as a once-busy stopping place that lost traffic after a nearby interstate bypassed it. That history reflects the real decline of many Route 66 communities after the Interstate Highway System expanded.

The town’s name is sometimes confused with the real Route 66 communities that inspired it. Pixar artists researched the highway and drew on places such as Seligman, Arizona, and Tucumcari, New Mexico. Radiator Springs later became an important setting in the Cars franchise and appears in related theme-park attractions.