Lightning McQueen

Lightning McQueen is the main playable character and protagonist of Cars.

Appearance
Lightning is a red, wide body stock car. He has a lightning bolt livery painted across the entirety of both sides of his body, with his racing number, 95, overlaid on top. The Rust-eze Medicated Bumper Ointment logo is on his hood. Additional sponsor logos are painted over the remaining red layers on the sides of his body.

Lightning's body shape is not derived from any specific real-world vehicle, as described by Cars director John Lasseter, although his design inherited some aspects from a Chevrolet Corvette C6, a Ford GT40, and early Lola models.

Role in Story Mode
In the beginning of the game, Lightning dreams a scenario of himself winning the Radiator Springs Grand Prix, a racing event hosted in the town of Radiator Springs. He is soon woken up by Sally, who tells him that Doc Hudson and some new people in town want to talk to him. After that, he goes to Mack which lectures him about the new Piston Cup season coming up.