There was nothing quite like Pixar’s ‘Cars‘. Racing movies have a habit of getting bogged down in the boredom of human drama, think 1966’s ‘Grand Prix‘ and three hours dedicated to the characters’ romances, The Pacino movie ‘Bobby Deerfield‘ spent as much time in a hospital in the Alps as Bobby spends at the track, or working up the nerve to return to the driver’s seat.
As a child, this is particularly bothersome. All anyone wants is to see cool cars go fast.
‘Cars‘ solved that problem straight from the poster. This isn’t a story about people and their issues and interests, this is a story about machines that come to life with one goal—drive.
Just the opening scene will get the blood pumping for anyone who grew up on this movie. “I am speed.” The engines roaring. Then, the field of 40 living and talking cars racing under the lights, Lightning McQueen cutting through the field. How could any parent hope to show their kid Bambi after this? There’s no going back, we’ve been taken on a one-way trip to this high-octane world.
But once ‘Cars‘ arrives in Radiator Springs, it becomes something quite different for a young viewer, and maybe the part that really solidifies the passion for motorsport in its audience, as it has done for so many. Far away from the racetrack, Lightning McQueen steps into the real roots of racing passion, with dedicated Tifosi Guido and Luigi, and of course, the reclusive legendary Doc Hudson. There’s more to being a race car than the bright lights and adoring Miatas.
The movie brings to life different facets of car culture. Of course there’s the race cars, but there’s also Ramone the lowrider, complete with pinstriping and hydraulics, Filmore the hippie van, and the four tuner cars on the highway, Boost, DJ, Wingo and Snot Rod, who look straight out of ‘2 Fast 2 Furious‘. The movie also includes racing legends transformed into iconic machines, like Michael Schumacher as a Ferrari F430, Mario Andretti as his 1967 Daytona 500 winning Ford Fairlane, and Dale Earnhardt Jr in the iconic colours of his No. 8 NASCAR.
In recent years, drivers who grew up on ‘Cars‘ have begun graduating to the top ranks of motorsport like Liam Lawson and David Malukas, who openly state how they were influenced into their career by the movie. ‘Cars‘ brought to life the blood-pumping excitement of race car in a way that had really never been done before, and certainly never on this scale. Lightning McQueen was the perfect vessel for the audience, a sharp-tongued young car who knows about little other than what he does best. Every kid could see themselves in him, knowing little other than that they wanted to see cars go fast.
Some 20 years later, it’s not uncommon at car shows and race tracks to see coupes painted like Lightning McQueen, any NASCAR photo finish invariably gets compared to Lightning’s three-way tie with The King and Chick Hicks, and the movie maintains a growing fanbase as more and more gearheads are born.