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Most of the World Grand Prix racers' numbers are probably referencing the years of previous Pixar movies. Raoule CaRoule had the number "6" when Cars came out in 2006. Rip Clutchgoneski has the number "10", which marks 2010, the year Pixar released Toy Story 3. Speaking of Toy Story, referencing Lightning McQueen's racing number and the year 1995, Pixar released the first Toy Story movie. Shu Todoroki has the number "7," referencing 2007, the year Ratatouille came out. Max Schnell has the number "4", which perhaps references The Incredibles, which came out in 2004. Also, Francesco has the number "1," which references 2001, the year Monsters, Inc. was released. Carla Veloso has the number "8", perhaps referring to the year WALL-E came out, 2008. Finally, Nigel Gearsley has the number "9", which probably references the year Up came out, 2009.
Finn McMissile was originally conceived for an unused scene in Cars (2006), where Lightning McQueen and Sally were seeing a spy movie, featuring McMissile, while on a date.
Out of respect for Paul Newman, who died in 2008, Doc Hudson Hornet from Cars (2006) is not included in this movie. An early scene implies that Hudson has died. However, Fillmore the Volkswagen van, voiced by George Carlin, who also died in 2008, appears here, voiced by Lloyd Sherr. Red the fire truck, voiced by Joe Ranft, who died in 2005, also appears, but doesn't have any dialogue or vocalizations.
After Mater and McQueen are done "cow tipping" the Colossus XXL, they drive past the drive-in. The movie playing is "The Incredimobiles", the Cars version of Pixar's The Incredibles (2004). A poster of the movie is visible when Holley Shiftwell and Finn McMissile are in Paris.
FRANCHISE TRADEMARK: The Pizza Planet truck appears twice: as a guest on the Tire Talk television show, and as a spectator near the end of this movie (while Mater was flying on jetpacks).
Pixar is known to include references to their upcoming productions. Characters from Pixar's next feature, Brave (2012), can be seen (as cars) in a piece of artwork on the wall in the pub in London.