"Was that floating like a Cadillac? Or was that stinging like a Beamer? I'm confused!"
All spoilers are unmarked.- In the opening race, footage is shown of previous races in the season. The frame is frozen every time the finish line is crossed, showing Chick in third place, pulling an angry scowl (and most likely about to curse) in every single one.
- Chick is sponsored by "Hostile Takeover Bank".
- "Don't take me out coach! I can still race!"—Said by Chuck Armstrong, who is severely battered from the crash, with his mouth drooping, his body bent, him leaking oil, and everything.
- What makes it funnier is that we see him later on after the pitstop scene all good as new. This is likely either an error by the animators or Chuck magically went through immediate reconstruction, because he's that desperate, and got his wish.
- Lightning denying his pit stop at his first race."Not Chuck": We need tires now! Come on, let's go!
Lightning: No, no, no! No tires, just gas!
"Not Chuck": WHAT?! YOU NEED TIRES, YOU IDIOT!!!- And when McQueen's refusal of tires bites him in the rear bumper:"Not Chuck": You Fool!
(another crew mate knocks over a cart of tires in frustration)
- And when McQueen's refusal of tires bites him in the rear bumper:
- "AND MY NAME IS NOT CHUCK!!!" Even better is that his character is listed in the credits as "Not Chuck".
- A lot of Chick's misleading insults can get a laugh.
- For example, after McQueen's crew abandon him.Chick: Hey, Lightning. Yo, McQueen. Seriously, that was some pretty darn good racing out there. BY ME!
- And when McQueen flies through the curtain too early and shows himself up.Chick: Oh-ho! Hey, McQueen, that must be pretty embarrassing. But I wouldn't worry about it. Because I didn't do it!
- For example, after McQueen's crew abandon him.
- After the first race, the twin fangirls, Mia and Tia, flashing their headlights for Lightning.Lightning: Oh, I looove being me.
- Harv buttering up Lightning:Harv: And it is such an honor to be your agent that it almost hurts me to take ten percent of your winnings. And merchandising. And ancillary rights in perpetuity-- anyway, what a race! Huh, champ? I didn't- I didn't see it but I heard you were great.
- And later after Harv finds Lightning:Harv: You can't buy this kind of publicity! What do you need me for? That's just a figure of speech, by the way, you signed a contract.
- What really sells this moment (at least for the US version) is his change of tone, mid-sentence. At first it's loud and hammy, then it's all serious and quiet, with no warning.
- What's more, in the UK version, Harv is voiced by none other than Jeremy Clarkson, whose notoriety for sarcasm and dry wit really makes some of those lines.
- And later after Harv finds Lightning:
- Many adults giggled during the media frenzy scene... just because they depicted a host named "Jay Limo" who looks and sounds just like Jay Leno.
- This exchange between Fillmore and Sarge:Fillmore: I'm telling you, man, every third blink is slower.
Sarge: The '60s weren't good to you, were they?- Made even funnier via Word of God stating that the animators did, in fact, make every third blink a little slower than the first two.
- During the court scene, Flo is asked what she has at her store. She says "I have gas... Lotsa gas!" Cue Mater and Ramone laughing.
- When Mater, Hudson, and Lightning are looking at the stretch of road that Lightning is going to repair, Mater exclaims "Holy shoot!" in a tone of voice that implies he just noticed the massive tear in the roadway.
- This exchange:Mater: Hey, I know this might be a bad time right now, but uh...you owe me $32,000 in legal fees.
Lightning: What?
Mater: *Nods* - When Doc introduces Lightning to Bessie and sentences him to community service:Lightning: Whoa, whoa, whoa, how long is this gonna take?
Doc: Well, if a fella does it right, it should take him about five days.
Lightning: Five days?! But I should be in California shmoozing Dinoco right now!
Doc: Then if I were you, I'd quit yappin' and start workin'! Hook him up, Mater.
Mater: Okey-dokey! (struggles with getting the clamp off Lightning's left front tire, but successfully removes the clamp, allowing Lightning to speed off into the distance like a bullet)
Lightning: FREEDOM!
Mater: (stands in stunned silence; as Doc glares at him) Maybe I should've, uh...hooked him up to Bessie... and THEN, uh...then took the boot off.- Doc's face after this looks like he was gonna say, "Oh, you think?"
- For a split second (while Mater is taking off the boot), Lightning gives us an Aside Glance with a look as if he were saying, "Can you believe this guy?"
- Lightning's freedom is short-lived, however, as he runs out of gas right in front of the Sheriff and Sally, who laugh at him.Sheriff: Boy, we ain't as dumb as you think we are.
Lightning: B-B-But-But...H-H-H-How-How did...?
Sally: We siphoned your gas while you were passed out. Ka-chow. (shines her headlight in Lightning's face; Lightning grumbles.)
- Mater's story about a talent he used to have as Lightning tries to fix the road:Mater: Y'know, I used to be a purty good whistler! I can't do it now of course, on account of sometimes I get fluid built up in ma' engine block, but Doc said he gon' fix it, though. He can fix about anything! That's why we made him the judge. Boy, you shoulda heard me on Giddy-Up, Oom Papa Mow Mow! Now, I'm not one to brag, but people come purty far to see me get low on the "Mow-Mow"!
- And Lightning's mood as he listens to this annoyingly long story is completely nuts as well. He scowls and rolls his eyes as he struggles to ignore it and get the road finished while struggling to pull Bessie, who is rather heavy.
- And then Bessie spits some tar on one of Lightning's lucky lightning bolts, which he has throughout the majority of his visit. Mater offers to get it off by Spit Shine, but a disgusted Lightning turns it down.
- Pretty much EVERY time Bessie spits tar on the car that is pulling her. When she is about to do so, she makes a pulsating noise that sounds like laughter, giving her at least some sentience despite having no face.
- This scene:Lightning: I'm a very famous race car!
Luigi: You are famous race car? A real race car?
Lightning: Yes, I'm a real race car, what do you think? Look at me!
Luigi: I have followed racing my entire life, my whole life!
Lightning: Then you know who I am. I'm Lightning McQueen!
Luigi: (ecstatically) Lightning McQueen!?
Lightning: Yes! YES!
Luigi: I must scream to the world my excitement from the top of someplace very high! Do you know many Ferraris?
Lightning: No, no, no, they race on the European circuit. I'm in the Piston Cup!
(Luigi and Guido both frown with stone-cold faces
◊)
Lightning: What?
Luigi: Luigi follow only the Ferraris. (he and Guido drive away) - Lightning's Freak Out when Van and Minny quickly flee Radiator Springs, while he's stuck to Bessie, flailing around:Lightning: Nonononono! No! It's the truth. I'm telling you! You gotta help me! *starts raising his voice* Don't leave me here! I'm in Hillbilly Hell! My IQ is dropping by the second! I'M BECOMING ONE OF THEEEEEEMMMMM!!!
- Bonus points when you realize that he does become one of them by the end of the movie, while still managing to maintain his IQ.
- Apparently, Sally must've heard his outburst, because later, when telling him to clean up, she tells him, "Even here in 'Hillbilly Hell', we have standards."
- The first "new road" that Lightning ends up making due to rushing his job, which is a bumpy mess. Mater testing it out simply doubles the hilarity.Sally: It looks awful!
Lightning: (smugly) Well, it matches the rest of the town.- Even when Lightning fully fixes the road, the others think he's left afterward, leaving Red to drive off crying. Lightning pulls up to Mater and asks what's wrong with Red, leaving Mater to explains why as Lightning knowingly smiles. After Mater's done, he just looks at Lightning for several beats, and only then gasps as he realizes that it's him. Even the other townsfolk laugh at this severe Delayed Reaction.
- During Lightning's trip to the Piston Cup, we see a scene involving Mack making funny faces on the reflection of the back of a tanker truck. The car that drives by Mack just looks at him like "What the heck did I just see?".
- Doc completely Trolling Lightning when he gets stuck in a cactus patch.Doc: Hey! Was that floating like a Cadillac, or was that stinging like a Beemer? I'm confused! You drive like ya fix roads - lousy! Have fun fishin', Mater.
(Mater lassoes his tow cable onto McQueen's trunk and pulls him out of the cactus patch)
Mater: I'm startin' to think he know'd you was gonna crash!
Lightning: Thank you, Mater. Thank you. - Lightning later tries to follow Doc's advice to "turn right to go left"—only to drive off a ledge, and into ANOTHER cactus patch.Lightning: Owwwwww! Ohhh...that— (a saguaro falls on top of him) OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!
- After scraping off his poorly done work from before, Lightning then works into the night so as to rectify it. He breaks into a very hilarious offscreen rant while doing so:(While pulling Bessie, a small asphalt bubble pops and once again sprays Lightning)
Lightning: Aw, great! I HATE IT! HATE HATE HATE HATE IT!
Doc: (chuckles) Music...sweet music...
Sally: Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.
Lightning: Radiator Springs! A happy place!
(gets splashed once more by the asphalt)
Lightning: Oh! Okay, Bessie, you think that's funny?! GREAT! I'M TALKIN' TO BESSIE NOW!!! I'M TALKIN' TO BESSIE!!!!! - Lightning muttering to himself about his failed use of Doc's advice.Lightning: "Turn right to go left"...Guess what? I tried it, and you know what? This crazy thing happened: I went right!
Lizzie: You keep talkin' to yourself, people will think you're crazy.
Lightning: Thanks for the tip.
Lizzie: What? I wasn't talking to you. - The whole tractor-tipping scene with Lightning and Mater, up to and including the encounter with Frank.
- Mater demonstrates by sneaking up to one tractor. He then honks his horn, startling the tractor, which rolls forward and rears up on its back wheels. After doing a second one, he tells Lightning to try, to which Lightning protests he can't because he doesn't have a horn. Eventually, Lightning gives in, so he sneaks up on one tractor, and revs his engine at full blast...knocking over every single tractor in the field that isn't already down. They both get a good laugh out of it — until they hear the sound of a bull bellowing.Mater: ...That's Frank. [drives off rapidly]
- During the chase, Lightning is terrified and racing for his life, Mater on the other hand is having the time of his life, infectiously laughing and hollering with glee.
- Becomes even funnier when you realize it's the equivalent of two morons going out cow tipping, but end up waking an angry bull.
- Gets its Brick Joke when, as Lightning returns from his day trip with Sally, the tractors stampede the town:Mater: Hey, listen, listen! If anybody asks you, we was out smashing mailboxes, okay? [speeds away]
Lightning: [laughs in disbelief] What? [sees tractors coming up the road] - Red uses his siren to tip over a large group that make it to the town square. Two of them end up swerving into Luigi's Casa Della Tires to avoid colliding with their friends.Luigi: No-no-no! Get out of the store! [Guido chases after that tractor while Luigi confronts a tractor eating a stack of tires out front] Hey, don't eat the radial! Here, take the snow tires!
- One of the tractors chases Fillmore around, while in turn being chased by Sarge.Sheriff: [chasing another tractor] MATER!
Mater: I wasn't tractor tipping!
Sheriff: Then where did all these gol-durn tractors come from?! - Lightning has a nightmare about Frank winning the big race. We have a normal start, until Frank shows up and kills Chick Hicks while the King drives off the track and Lightning is accidentally drifted off, Frank gets kissed by two Dinoco cars while Lightning gets a licking treatment from a bunch of tractors, ending with Lightning screaming ''NO!'' when he wakes up.
- Mater demonstrates by sneaking up to one tractor. He then honks his horn, startling the tractor, which rolls forward and rears up on its back wheels. After doing a second one, he tells Lightning to try, to which Lightning protests he can't because he doesn't have a horn. Eventually, Lightning gives in, so he sneaks up on one tractor, and revs his engine at full blast...knocking over every single tractor in the field that isn't already down. They both get a good laugh out of it — until they hear the sound of a bull bellowing.
- Mater teasing Lightning about his relationship with Sally:Mater: McQueen and Sally parked beneath the tree, K-I-S-somethin'-somethin'-somethin'-T!
- This happens again in the final scene as Lightning and Sally have a romantic moment and inch towards each other as if about to kiss... until Mater ruins the moment.Mater: McQueen and Sally parked beneath the tree, K-I-S-S-uh...I-N-T!
Lightning: Great timing, Mater!
- This happens again in the final scene as Lightning and Sally have a romantic moment and inch towards each other as if about to kiss... until Mater ruins the moment.
- Every morning, Sarge raises the flag while playing "Reveille". Almost immediately, Fillmore counters by playing Jimi Hendrix's rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" loudly next door:Sarge: WILL YOU TURN THAT DISRESPECTFUL JUNK OFF?!
Fillmore: Respect the classics, man! It's Hendrix! - When Lightning tries to tell the others that Doc had three Piston Cups, we get this amusing line from Mater:
- When Lightning first tries Filmore's organic fuel, he questions why he hasn't heard of it before. Filmore goes on a rant about there being some kind of grand conspiracy by the big oil companies to discredit alternative fuels. Even better, the sequel reveals he's completely right.
- Towards the end of the movie, McQueen tells his agent, Harv, that he's in a little town called, "Radiator Springs". Later on, Harv calls McQueen out and tells him to get to California pronto and tells him to get out of "Radiation Stinks".
- This bit during the final race, when Lightning sees Doc and everyone else at the pits.Lightning: I thought you said you'd never come back?
Doc: Well, I really didn't have a choice. Mater didn't get to say goodbye.
Mater: [yelling at Doc's mic] GOODBYYEEEEEEEEE!! Okay, I'm good. - Guido's pit stop is without a doubt the Moment of Awesome for this film. Chick Hicks' pit crew, who moments earlier had just been taunting Guido, are so stunned that they drop their mustache grilles.Guido: Peet stop.
- Chick Hicks' entire Piston Cup ceremony. Everyone is so upset that he won through his poor sportsmanship (and impressed by Lightning's good sportsmanship sacrifice for the King's sake) that the ceremony ends up being the opposite of what is often seen in trophy presentations.
- Instead of the spectators celebrating the win and the media broadcasting and snapping pictures of Chick as he gets his trophy, they all just stand silently, glaring in disgust at him for what he did to the King.
- Instead of properly presenting Chick his Piston Cup, the (off-screen) presenter just slides it over to him across the stage, obviously not wanting to deal with him.
- Instead of Chick's female fans joining him on-stage, they stand in solidarity with everyone else in disgust over his cheating-based-victory.
- Instead of those in charge of the confetti blasting it into the air in celebration of Chick's win, they actually blast him with the confetti. AT CLOSE RANGE. Which is not only hilarious, but also further solidifies everyone's anger towards him.
- And finally, when he has the gall to ask for everyone to celebrate, take pictures, and give him the glory he deludedly believes he deserves before he signs with Dinoco, everyone boos and throws tires, oil cans, garbage, and his own merchandise at him, forcing him off the stage in humiliation and to complain that "this is the start of the Chick Era!"
- Various dialogues during credits scene which shows Toy Car Story, Monster Trucks, Inc., and A Bug's Life are recycled AS CARS!.Woody The Wagon: YOU! ARE A TOY! CAR!
Buzz Lightcar: You are a sad strange little wagon, and you have my pity. Farewell!- Even better? Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Billy Crystal, John Goodman, and Dave Foley all reprised their famous Pixar roles, as cars! (John Ratzenberger, of course, voiced vehicular incarnations of three of his other Pixar characters; Hamm, the Abominable Snowman, and P.T. Flea)
- The utter contempt for the fourth wall displayed in the credits where Mack comments on John Ratzenberger's voice in Cars versions of several other Pixar films.Mack: Wait a minute here, they're just using the same actor over and over! What kind of cut-rate production is this?
- The stinger, where Van and Minny are lost in the desert.(Van and Minnie are in the middle of the desert, dusty, still looking for California)
Minny: [exhausted] Oh, for the love of Chrysler, can we please ask someone for directions?!
Van: [delirious and hysterical] NO! There's another ramp close! I KNOW IT! I CAN FEEL IT! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!!!- Don't worry guys, they get better by the next film.
