Montgomery "Lightning" McQueen is the main protagonist of the long-running and highly successful Cars franchise. He was created in the early s by Pixar's design artists, and has become a popular mascot for his home franchise as well as Disney and Pixar in general. Having debuted in the animated feature film Cars , McQueen is a professional racecar who quickly rose to prominence in his local scene, before debuting in the Piston Cup as the 95 Rust-eze driver.
He has had a lengthy and prosperous career, winning several championships before becoming the trainer and crew chief for Cruz Ramirez on the Dinoco racing team.
McQueen is typically portrayed as kindhearted and passionate, having found an unlikely home in the Arizona town of Radiator Springs , where he lives with his best friend Mater , his girlfriend Sally , and many other neighbors. During research for the first film, John Lasseter and General Motors designers met to discuss the updated Corvette Z06 design, which Lightning McQueen and Chick Hicks were originally intended to be based on.
However, changes to the plot resulted in both characters being left as generic stock racers. According to production designer Bob Pauley, Lightning's final design used elements from GT40s and Charger SRT-8s , among many other models, to reflect his personality and role. Originally, Lightning's number was 57, John Lasseter's birthyear. Athletic figures such as boxer Muhammad Ali and football quarterback Joe Namath were looked to during development of McQueen's personality, as well as popular musician Kid Rock, in order to create a cocky-but-likable character.
Additionally, Michael Jordan was also looked to by the designers, due to his unique style of playing his sport. His racing number, "95", is a reference to the year , when Pixar's first full-length film, Toy Story 1 was released. Originally, his number was going to be 57, which is the year John Lasseter was born Lightning's last name "McQueen" is a reference to Glenn McQueen , a supervising animator at Pixar who passed away in While depictions of McQueen's origins have varied in details, recurring elements of the racecar's backstory paint him as an arrogant and self-centered "one-man show" who quickly became a standout in his local racing scene, driven by ambitions of becoming a professional Piston Cup driver and the face of the prestigious Dinoco brand.
