Dawn Welch, the Little Blue Porsche

Route 66 Restaurateur Inspires Pixar’s “Cars” Character Author: David Hanigar
Issue: 2006 August

Dawn Welch is like a finely tuned automobile. That’s not a cliche -- it is quite literal. More precisely, she is a like a blue Porsche.

Welch is the personality behind Sally of Radiator Springs, who is the leading female in the hit animated feature “Cars,” by Pixar Entertainment and Disney Studios. The story follows the escapades of Lightning McQueen, a race car who gets sidetracked on the way to his big race and ends up in a small town on a forgotten stretch of Route 66. It is in this town, Radiator Springs, where Lightning meets Sally, whose ideologies and energy help carve an impression in him that alters the course of his life.

“The whole character of Sally is really me — the way she acts and everything,” Welch said.
In the movie, Sally is portrayed as a California lawyer who got a flat tire in Radiator Springs and, after becoming enchanted with the community, opens the Cozy Cone motel and makes the town her home. Welch said that story is a mutation of her own history.

“They (Pixar) changed it around a little. I worked on a cruise ship instead of a law firm and I opened a restaurant instead of the Cozy Cone, but what happened to Sally is what happened to me — except I got my flat tire in Stroud,” she said.

Welch, who grew up in Yukon, left Oklahoma after high school to travel abroad. Working on a cruise ship gave her an opportunity to share in the lives of countless people. As an avid storyteller and a natural socialite, Welch said the job complemented her. At the age of 23, however, she decided to serve people in a different way by opening a restaurant in Costa Rica. She went to Stroud to look at an old grill that was for sale at the Rock Cafe, which was, unknown to her, a landmark along historic Route 66. Charmed by the people and the atmosphere of the cafe, Welch wound up with not only the grill, but a lease to the building.

In the 13 years since that day, Welch has transformed from the young girl who knew no more about cooking than she did about Route 66 into a successful restaurateur, an exceptional cook, and a national spokeswoman for the famous east/west highway. As portrayed in the movie when Sally rallies the townspeople (er…townscars) together with her speech in the courtroom, Welch said she has been all over the country promoting Route 66 and rallying support for keeping it alive.

So when John Lasseter, the chief creative executive at Pixar (and now Disney), decided he wanted to make a movie about Route 66, the Rock Cafe became one of the planned stops on his 2001 tour. Welch said she prepared for his lunchtime arrival in hopes of enchanting him with the same atmosphere and nostalgia that had won her heart. Except Lasseter didn’t arrive until 9:30 p.m., more than nine hours after his expected arrival and a half hour after the restaurant had closed.

But the worst thing, said Welch, was that the sun had already set. Still in a state of recovery from the May 2001 tornado, Welch said her neon lights had not yet been repaired.

“And of course the first thing John Lasseter does when he jumps out of the car is say, ‘Can we see your neon sign? We’re so excited you have a neon sign!’” Welch said.

Dawn Welch, the Little Blue Porsche

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