You can use anything negative as fuel to push through to the positive!
„
~ Cruz to McQueen
Cruz Ramirez is the deuteragonist of Pixar's 18th full-length feature film Cars 3, the third installment in the Cars film series, and a minor character in its 2022 Disney+ spin-off miniseries Cars on the Road.
She is a racing trainer who helped her long-time idol Lightning McQueen get his racing mojo back so he can defeat Jackson Storm. Later, she becomes a racer herself as she has dreamed it since her youth, and garnered the chance to beat Jackson herself.
Cruz Ramirez is described as optimistic, sunny, kind and fierce. As a racing trainer, she enjoys assisting other cars in improving their racing abilities, including Lightning McQueen, whom she greatly admires. She believes ones can use anger as motivation. She also wanted to become a racer forever because of Lightning McQueen, and in the end, she got her chance. She is also very sweet.
Biography[]
Cars 3[]
Initially, she is recruited by Lightning McQueen to help him train for the upcoming Florida 500 and defeat a rookie named Jackson Storm. After a series of unsuccessful attempts to train McQueen at the Rust-eze Racing Center, the two participate in a series of events including unwittingly entering and winning in demolition derby and training at Thomasville with Doc Hudson's former mentor, Smokey. She races in the Florida 500 herself as McQueen's replacement sporting his number, which she eventually wins jointly with McQueen. After the race, she politely turns down Sterling's offer to join the race team, possibly in retaliation for underestimating her skills and joins Dinoco's racing team sporting Doc Hudson's old number (51), with McQueen serving as her crew chief.
Miss Fritter's Racing Skoool[]
In Miss Fritter's Racing Skoool, Cruz is celebrating the achievement of her Florida 500 trophy with McQueen, when they both see a commercial starring Miss Fritter. However, the loud volume causes Cruz's Crazy Eight trophy to smash, much to her shock.
Cars on the Road[]
Gettin' Hitched[]
Cruz appears in Cars on the Road episode Gettin' Hitched when Lightning McQueen and Mater went to Mato's Wedding.
Cruz Ramirez who is attending the wedding, as the groom is her cousin Mateo, and that she has been getting into various hobbies during the off season. They finally meet Mato who is kind and considerate, except towards Mater whom she picks on and entices him to challenge him to various games.
Cruz reveals that she has dabbled in family psychiatry and manages to get Mater and Mato to work out their issues with one another. The Justice leaves out of frustration and Cruz takes over to officiate the wedding. McQueen is eager to get back on a plane and fly home, but upon hearing Mater's wedding speech (which combines his B-movie president speech), McQueen realizes that the journey was exciting and agrees to return home on the road with Mater again.
Other Appearances[]
Cars 3: Driven to Win[]
Cruz appears in her Dinoco paint job, as one of the six playable characters who are available from the start. She appears in most of the cutscenes with Lightning McQueen.
In the Stig vs Lightning McQueen short, Cruz, McQueen and Mater, all in LEGO forms, travel to the Top Gear test track to race with the Stig. However, at the end of the race, a replica of the Leaning Tower of Pisa collapses on top of the Stig, and Cruz and McQueen can only watch as Mater unsuccessfully tries to get him back to his original shape.
Disney Parks[]
Since 2017, Cruz appears in Cars Land at Disney California Adventure park as a "drive-around" character. She regularly stops at the Cozy Cone Motel to speak and have pictures taken with guests. She appears in her Dinoco paint job. From 2017 until it’s closure in 2018 after the opening of Toy Story Land, Cruz appeared at Disney’s Hollywood Studios outside of the exit to Toy Story Midway Mania.
Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy[]
Cruz appears in the show Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy At Disney's Hollywood Studios. In the show, Cruz acts as Lightning's crew chief for the simulator, alongside Mater. Cruz also appears in the waiting area next to DJ to pose for photos.
Powers/Skills[]
With a bodywork made of lightweight alloy, an aerodynamic Venturi channeled chassis, and a High Performance DOHC V-6 engine, Cruz can go from zero to sixty miles per hour in 3.8 seconds, and can go up to 210 miles per hour. She has a voice command assistant called Hamilton.
Specifications[]
Vehicle type: 2017 CRS Sports Coupe
Top Speed: 210 mph
0-60 mph: 3.8 seconds
Engine Type: High Performance DOHC V-6
Chassis: Aerodynamic Venturi Channeled
Body: Lightweight alloy
Creation and development[]
To give Cruz a positive set of expressions and movement, the character riggers used 656 controls; 360 were for Cruz's body, and 296 were used for her face.
Physical appearance[]
Cruz is painted yellow all over, with brown eyes, and contains the Rust-eze Racing Center logo just between her doors and front fenders.
According to her character pose, she is a 2017 CRS Sports Coupe. Her license plate reads "C01 06A", which is a combination of her voice actress Cristela Alonzo's initials and birthday.
Quotes[]
“
Mr. Sterling, did you say Lightning was here? Because... (snorts) I don't see him anywhere.
„
~ Cruz trolling Lightning as she meets him for the first time.
Sorry, Mr. Sterling. I would never raace for you. I quit.
„
~ Cruz confidently resigning from working under Sterling.
Trivia[]
It's unknown if there will be a Cars 4, as Pixar could possibly try to get a good story with Cruz as the main protagonist, like Cars 2, which was about her mentor's best friend, Mater, and Lightning was the protagonist of the first and third film. Although Cars 4 was eventually confirmed, whether or not the story will involve Cruz is still unknown.
Cruz was originally intended to have been a male alongside a rookie racer similar to McQueen in the original film, further bringing parallels between Lightning and Doc. These ideas were scrapped and she became a female because the writers were worried that this was retreading too much of a familiar ground.
Her face seems to look a little like Sally, but her body is shaped like a Jaguar F-Type.
Cruz's license plate is licensed in Texas and reads "C01 06A", which includes Cristela Alonzo's initials, "CA", and her birthday, January 6th.
Cruz has 656 rigging controls, including 360 for her body and 296 for her face.
When Cruz tells the story about how she wanted to become a racer, and how she used to watch McQueen on TV fly through the air, this references the original Cars film where McQueen avoids a huge crash caused by Chick Hicks by jumping on Claude Scruggs' tires to get through the wreck.
She is the only female Next-Gen racer in the Piston Cup.
Interestingly, and besides, she is also the only out of all in the Next-Gen series to be equipped with a V6 engine.
She, Misti Motorkrass, and Louise Nash are the only known female racers in the Piston Cup.
Cruz has 656 rigging controls, including 360 for her body and 296 for her face.
Although the engine displacement is currently unknown, it may be 3.5 liters, a very popular displacement for a V6 engine.
According to the Cars 3 credits, Mack is her hauler. But in 2019, Mattel released a playset featuring "Cruz Ramirez's Hauler". However, it has been revealed in the former's appearance in Cars on the Road that his trailer is back to his Rust-eze paint job which likely meant that Mack was Cruz's hauler for a brief time before at one point getting replaced by this next-gen type.
Cruz Ramirez's model is a 2017 CRS Sports Coupe, an original Pixar design based on an American muscle car proportion with European sports car elegance.
Despite Cruz having named her tires (the left rear one is named María, the left front one is named Juanita, the right rear one is named Ronaldo, and the right front one is named Debbie Richardson, the latter of which she says is a long story), they are later removed by Guido when she is modified to help McQueen with his training.
The Polish name for Frances Beltline, Alina Spalina, may be a reference to Louise Nash's Polish name, Alina Lina.
Heroes
