Dice's Spontaneous Specials: Lightning McQueen 

By Dice Hanson

We all have some favourite characters from movies we used to watch in our childhoods, but do we really know as much about them as we think? These characters formed our childhoods and brought us up. They have a special place in our hearts. Today, I would like to share my favourite Pixar character with you, Lightning McQueen, and some fun facts about him. I would like to present to you why Lightning McQueen is such a cool character, and why I like him now even though I am no longer as young as I was when I watched the movies.

- Our first fact, Lightning McQueen’s real name is actually Montgomery, just like our school’s name. Lightning was originally just a nickname that Montgomery gave himself. But then it became his whole character.

- Lightning McQueen’s number is 95. This is a reference to the year that Pixar’s first ever movie, Toy Story, was released. It was originally supposed to be 57 in reference to the year that John Lasseter was born in ( film director ).

- Lightning McQueen has been proven to be the most popular fictional car in the world. As of April 2021, he had been searched up over 800,000 times in the past twelve months, ranking nearly four times more iconic than any other car, including the mystery machine and the herbie car.

- As a nod to NASCAR tradition, there is a yellow “rookie” stripe on Lightning’s back bumper.

- Owen Wilson’s performance as Lightning McQueen earned him a nomination for Favorite Movie Animated Voice in the 2012 People’s Choice Awards.

- Lightning McQueen has won five piston-cups ( racing series in the movies ), adding to his 1.5 million dollar net worth. He’s an expensive car!

- He may not be the fastest car in his universe, but Lightning McQueen ranks up 750-horsepower V8 and can reach 17 m/s in 3.2 seconds on his way to a 322 top speed!

I hope that after reading this you have a new appreciation for Lightning McQueen and our childhood characters. Not only is the character written in depth and well, but the effort is visibly worth it. These characters, especially Lightning McQueen, are very interesting. They formed our childhoods, they gave us role models. Likewise, I personally just find Lightning McQueen to be very cool.  Lightning McQueen has a special place in my heart, and I hope he now does in yours as well.

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Lightning mcqueen (2023) Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_McQueen#:~:text=His%20number%20was%20originally%20set,Pixar's%20first%20film%20Toy%20Story. (Accessed: March 2023). 

Eker, N. (2021) Study finds lightning mcqueen is most popular fictional car, Inside the Magic. Available at: https://insidethemagic.net/2021/04/lightning-mcqueen-popular-fictional-car-ne1/ (Accessed: March 2023). 

Cars.com Editors March 28, 2023 et al. (no date) Exclusive: 'cars 2' racers get real specs, Cars.com. Cars.com. Available at: https://www.cars.com/articles/exclusive-cars-2-racers-get-real-specs-1420663164625/ (Accessed: March 2023).