What is the name of the fictional town where Lightning McQueen meets Mater in Pixar’s Cars?

Radiator Springs is the fictional town where Lightning McQueen meets Mater in Pixar’s Cars.

After damaging the road while fleeing from a police chase, McQueen is ordered to repair the town’s main street. The assignment keeps him in Radiator Springs, where he meets Mater, Sally Carrera, Doc Hudson, Luigi, Guido, and other residents.

The town 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 highway. This background gives the film an emotional connection to the real history of Route 66 communities in the American Southwest.

Radiator Springs is not the same place as Carburetor County, the fictional county in which the town is located. The town’s name is also sometimes confused with Ornament Valley, the surrounding landscape and later racing area. Cars uses the town as both a setting and a symbol of slowing down, remembering local history, and valuing community.