*Disclosure: I received an all expenses paid trip to Charlotte, NC for the coverage of these events. All opinions are 100% my own.
Chatting with Jay Ward and Ray Evernham was like sitting down with an old friend. The moment they got into the room it was like seeing Cars on the big screen all over again because their passion for the project showed on their faces. Cars 3 tells a story about someone who had limited themselves in life. Which is how it got started in it’s own way, it’s an exciting story about mentorship and telling a story about paying it forward.
The big take away is simply this, “No, you are good enough. You can do this!”
Chatting with Jay Ward and Ray Evernham
Cars 3 is kind of the trilogy for the Cars Brand, but it’s mirrors race drivers because the circle comes to a close.
Pixar is held to a different standard and it sets the bar really high so you know when you start making a film it has to tell a great story. Jay said, “Any film can look beautiful, but not any film can tell a great story” Which makes perfect sense if you think about it. But people in general usually have a love of cars as well as a connection with Cars, so we had to find a special way and get the story just right
Authenticity
Authenticity is a big thing in the world of Pixar and each film exhaustive amounts of research is done to help bring the characters to life. Cars 3 is a world that is well known and the characters have to be fun as well as tell a story that can stand alone if it needs too. Cars 3 definitely immerses you into the world of racing, Nascar and even life on the track comes to the screen in an all new way. But as with all things cars changes throughout the years and they are getting lower, wider, sharper but with studying the history of cars Jackson Storm was born as the future of Nasacar. Lightning McQueen looks “old” even though he looks good and is cool, he becomes yesterdays’ news in Cars 3.
Lightening McQueen
If you are a car lover you need to visit the Petersen Museum because it has lots of cars there but also Lightening McQueen, but there is also one in Nascar’s Hall of Fame. There are only 2 life sized McQueens out there and to say I was right by him, is pretty epic if you ask me.
Carsland
If you have ever been to Disneyland in California, you have probably been to Carsland. Carsland is amazing and is a totally immersive experience and you feel like a car once you are in that world. But if you haven’t been here are a few fun facts about Carsland.
- There’s no sidewalks in Cars Land because cars don’t need sidewalks. There’s guardrails and the doors are wider than they are tall because Cars are wide they’re not tall. If you look up the Cadillac Range we made it that tall to cover up the power lines out in Katella.
- Everything but Tower of Terror tells you that you are in Radiator Springs and you are able to relax and just hang out.
- You just wanna’ sit at Flo’s and watch the Radiator Springs Racers go by and you’re like, “I’m cool. I don’t need to go anywhere.” You’ll listen to oldies music and I’m like, “I’m in Radiator Springs and it’s cool and it’s transformative.”
- Carsland brought California Adventure back to life and now it is often times opposite from the past because people go to Carsland first, instead of Disneyland and that is a testament to quality is the best business plan.
About Ray Evernham
RAY EVERNHAM (voice of Ray Reverham) has been a car guy ever since he started racing and working on cars at age 15 in his home state of New Jersey. For the first 20 years of his career, Evernham had his eyes set on being a championship-winning driver. It wasn’t until he began working in the International Race of Champions (IROC) series with drivers such as Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip and Bill Elliott that he knew his success in the racing industry was not going to be found behind the wheel.
In 1992, Rick Hendrick gave Evernham the opportunity to crew chief for his #24 team and up-and-coming driver Jeff Gordon. The rest is history: three NASCAR Cup championships and 47 Cup victories, including two Daytona 500s and the inaugural Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Evernham’s “20 Points of Success” philosophy and innovative work with the Rainbow Warriors pit crew and engineering team revolutionized the role of crew chief in NASCAR and continues to set the performance standard today. Motorsports media has since recognized Evernham’s influence by voting him the Top All-Time Crew Chief.
After the 1999 season, Evernham retired from his crew chief role to take on a new challenge, team ownership. Daimler-Chrysler handpicked Evernham to spearhead Dodge’s re-entry into NASCAR racing, and, in less than 500 days, Evernham developed a car, engine and parts distribution program for Dodge’s entire NASCAR presence. With Bill Elliott behind the wheel, Evernham won Dodge the 2001 Daytona 500 pole in their first Sprint Cup Series start in nearly 20 years.
Evernham sold his remaining ownership shares of Evernham Motorsports in 2007 and was nominated for the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015. Since leaving the racing garage in 2007, Evernham has stayed in the public eye as a broadcast TV personality, serving as a NASCAR racing analyst with SPEED, ESPN and NBCSN. Currently, Evernham shares his passion for automobiles through his television series “AmeriCarna,” which he co-owns, co-produces and hosts with his friend and mentor Rick Hendrick. “AmeriCarna,” now in its fourth season on Velocity, allows Evernham to reveal untold stories of the cars that have so heavily influenced American culture as we know it today.
In 2014, Evernham made his return to the competition side of NASCAR as a consultant to Hendrick Motorsports. He is a member of the executive management team, in which Evernham offers his point of view in several key areas of the race team and meets with the crew chiefs, drivers, engineers and other management team members on a weekly basis.
The racing community is one of the most generous in all of sports, and the Evernham Family-Racing for a Reason Foundation (EFRFAR) is no exception. EFRFAR has been instrumental in bringing much-needed services to the Charlotte-area community. EFRFAR seeded and fully funds IGNITE, a community center operated by the Autism Society of North Carolina for young adults with high-functioning autism (HFA) or Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) in Davidson, N.C. IGNITE is a project very close to Evernham’s heart because his young adult son, Ray J, has Asperger’s Syndrome. IGNITE offers activities, skills training and educational workshops that foster social, financial, educational and employment independence for its members.
About Jay Ward
JAY WARD (Creative Director) came to Pixar Animation Studios in December 1998 to work as an art department production assistant on the 2001 feature film, “Monsters, Inc.” He was promoted to coordinator, and in 2001 began early development work on the 2006 film, “Cars.” During the production of “Cars,” Ward’s knowledge of the automotive world led him to play different roles on the film, including the character team manager and automotive consultant to the film’s director and co-director, John Lasseter and Joe Ranft. Ward went on to manage the art department for “Ratatouille” and “Brave,” and he was the associate producer on the Pixar Short “Presto” in 2008.
Ward contributed his expertise on all-things-cars for Disney•Pixar’s feature film “Cars 2,” and was also a key consultant in the creation and production of “Cars Land” at Disney’s California Adventure Park in Anaheim, Calif. “Cars Land” opened to the public on June 15, 2012. Ward continues to contribute his enthusiasm for cars and his artistic passions to the creation of everything within the “Cars” franchise.
Prior to Pixar, War served in the U.S. Naval Reserves and attended California College of the Arts, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in illustration in 1993. His diverse professional background includes working as a signalman in the U.S. Navy, aircraft fueler while in college, Harley Davidson parts department manager, and freelance illustrator. Those disparate experiences have collectively given Ward an opportunity to utilize his people, collaboration and creative skills to great success at Pixar. Ward resides in Orinda, Calif. with his wife and their two children.
Leave a Reply