In Pixar's Cars, U.S. Route 66 inspired the road setting around Radiator Springs.
The film uses Radiator Springs to represent the small towns and roadside businesses that once depended on Route 66 traffic. When modern interstate highways provided faster routes, many of those communities lost visitors and economic activity. That history gives the town's story a real American setting beneath its talking-car premise.
Route 66 originally connected Chicago and Santa Monica and became famous through migration, tourism, roadside architecture, and popular culture. Pixar filmmakers researched the route by traveling through the American Southwest and meeting people connected with its remaining towns.
Cars does not place Radiator Springs in a real state or identify it as an actual town. The community is fictional, while its geography, landmarks, and decline are composites inspired by the historic highway.