AUTO PARTS

1. Calgary native John Hoffman has an important story artist role on the third Cars movie.

Hoffman’s on the Pixar team responsible for the NASCAR race footage and the Crazy 8 Demolition Derby sequences. He watched hours of race footage and demolition crashers at various tracks to get it right. Through it all, Hoffman came to realize John Lasseter, head honcho at Disney and Pixar animation, is a Cars champion as the first director.

“I think there’s probably some pressure knowing we were playing with his baby,” Hoffman says. “But it also definitely helped because he was always available to us.”

2. Lending their voices and some credibility are NASCAR drivers Jeff Gordon and Chase Elliott, among many.

References are also made to the legendary Junior Johnson, who won 50 NASCAR races in the 1950s and ’60s, and Wendell Scott, the first African-American NASCAR driver to win a race (in 1963).

3. The late Paul Newman reprises his role of Hudson Hornet in Cars 3.

Newman’s re-edited dialogue is from the first Cars sessions when director Lasseter recorded Newman as they shared thoughts on car racing between takes.

4. Mr. Sterling’s The Rusteze Training Centre, where Lightning McQueen tries to update his racing techniques, seems far-fetched.

However, the fancy facility in the movie is loosely based on a few airplane-hangarsized European locations containing state-of-the art training gadgets and simulators.

5. Cars 3 should keep the franchise momentum moving.

In Canada and the U.S., the production is expected to top $60 million at the opening weekend box office. That’s in line with the other films and will also serve to increase earnings from toys, apparel licensing and The Cars Land attraction at Disney California Adventure.