'Cars 3' characters based on real-life NASCAR legends (2024)

In Disney Pixar's upcoming animated movie "Cars 3," our hero Lightning McQueen searches for stock-car racing's roots. He finds them in four characters based on real NASCAR racing heroes, three drivers and a mechanic. Here's a look at the new characters -- and the racers who inspired them.

"We did so much research on NASCAR history, and these four jumped out as these incredible stories of inspiration," said director Brian Fee. "Lightning is at a place in his life where it's about overcoming obstacles.”

All four of these real-life characters overcame many obstacles themselves to achieve greatness.

River Scott

Inspiration: Wendell Scott

2015 NASCAR Hall of Fame, first (and, so far, only) African-American to win a Cup Series race

Voiced by: Isiah Whitlock Jr.

As our NASCAR correspondent Al Pearce said when Scott was voted into the Hall of Fame: Scott was a pioneering African-American driver whose modest numbers -- one pole and one win in 495 career Sprint Cup starts -- tell only part of his story. Scott and his family, it was said, often slept in the back of their tow car because hotels in the Southeast refused to rent to them on race weekends. A former engine-builder recalled how Scott, a master at making something out of nothing, scrounged for slightly used parts and pieces discarded by better financed teams. Several NASCAR-sanctioned promoters flatly refused his entry fee, fearing a walkout by white fans if Scott made the show. Another promoter said the No. 34 car could race, but only with a white driver. A former two-time series champion admiringly said Scott did more with what he had than anyone ever has in stock-car racing.

Often told is the story of Scott’s lone victory, in December 1963 at Jacksonville, Florida. On an afternoon when he was clearly the winner, track and NASCAR officials instead showed the checkered flag to Buck Baker, a popular white driver for a well-funded team. Scott asked for and got a scoring recheck, which eventually showed he had won the 200-lap race by two full laps over Baker. By then -- quite by careful design, of course -- Baker had long since kissed the white trophy girl in victory lane, posed for the winner's photos, done the media interviews and left the property with the trophy that rightfully belonged to Scott.

“No one faced longer odds than Wendell Scott, racing where he did -- primarily in the South -- during the era when he did it, in the 1960s, and with little money at all,” said "Cars 3" director Brian Fee. “It really is amazing."

How Disney Pixar tells this story will be interesting to see.

Junior "Midnight" Moon

Inspiration: Junior Johnson

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame and inspiration for the movie "The Last American Hero"

Voiced by: Junior Johnson

Junior Johnson won 50 races as a driver and 139 as a team owner. He was, and remains, an American icon of stock-car racing royalty. For the character Junior “Midnight” Moon, the plan was to have an actor voice his part -- until Pixar met the man known as the Last American Hero, the only living member of the legends portrayed here. "They weren't run off by my accent, I guess," said the 85-year-old former moonshiner, who now pushes legal corn squeezins, also named Midnight Moon. "They gave me one line to read where my car says he discovered how to use the draft at Daytona. I looked up at the movie folks and said, 'Yeah, that's true. I did.'"

Smokey

Inspiration: Smokey Yunick

Legendary mechanic, winning car builder/crew chief of both Daytona 500 and Indy 500

Voiced by: Chris Cooper

Before he became an icon of mechanical ingenuity (and creative interpretation of rule books) Smokey Yunick was a high school dropout and World War II bomber pilot. He was a member of the Greatest Generation who then calmly went on to fame behind pit wall. Yunick became a two-time mechanic of the year; two-time championship crew chief (for Herb Thomas); won 12 poles and eight races as an owner; won several dozen more races as crew chief for others, including nine racers already in the Hall of Fame; won the last NASCAR beach/highway race in 1958 with Paul Goldsmith; was crew chief for 1961 and 1962 Daytona 500 winners Marvin Panch and Fireball Roberts and fielded stock cars for IndyCar legends such as Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Joe Leonard, Bobby Unser and Johnny Rutherford.

Yunick was known for his hard facial features (see: the design of his animated car), his ability to bend rules and his penchant for cramming multiple curse words into every sentence. Says Johnson: "We were all pretty good at finding gaps in the rules, but Smokey was probably the best." Adds "Cars 3" director Brian Fee, laughing: "We all read Smokey's book ["Best Damn Garage in Town"]. It's so great. But if we'd written our script exactly as Smokey would've said it, we'd be in big trouble." Thus the sign in the movie outside Smokey’s Garage says “Best Dang Garage in Town.”

Louise "Barnstormer" Nash

Inspiration: Louise Smith

"First Lady of Racing," competed in NASCAR from 1945 to '56, winning 
38 races across four divisions

Voiced by: Margo Martindale

Louise Smith was the first woman inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, and her racing exploits are more compelling than anything Hollywood could have conjured up. Smith, who competed in NASCAR’s Modified ranks for 12 years between 1945 and 1956, won 38 events in one of the sport’s most rugged divisions, with a fearless driving style that often disarmed her male competitors.

It all started in 1947 when Smith drove down from Greenville, South Carolina, to watch the races on Daytona Beach. She hated being behind the fence and entered her husband's new Ford coupe. She wrecked out, hopped a bus home, then concocted a lie to tell Smith about the missing car -- only to find out that a photo of his smashed Ford was in the local papers. "We've all got great stories," Junior Johnson said of Smith. "But hers might be the best one of them all."

"Cars 3" will be in theaters June 16. Start lining up now.