Strip Weathers Goes Back to the Beginning, Rebuilt in 3D by a Single Animator

An animator is at work on a film set before the events of "Cars," following Strip Weathers through his first years on the track. In the 2006 Pixar film, Weathers was voiced by Richard Petty himself. The draw for anyone who knows stock cars by their lines is the modeling: the animator is building NASCAR's best-known figures in three dimensions, and building them with real accuracy. To an owner or collector, that accuracy is what separates a tribute from a cartoon.

With reporting from The Drive.