Delinquent Road Hazards

The Delinquent Road Hazards are minor antagonists in the 2006 Disney•Pixar animated film Cars. They are a group of four cars who intentionally cause danger on the highway.

Background[]

Physical appearances[]

Boost (purple neon/silver Nissan Silvia (S15) with a custom body kit resembling JGTC cars, voiced by Jonas Rivera), Devon "DJ" Montgomery Johnston III (blue 2004 Scion XB customized as a Japanese sound van/music van, voiced by E.J. Holowicki), Wingo (green and purple 2004 Acura RSX, voiced by Adrian Ochoa), and Snot Rod (orange 1970 Plymouth Barracuda mixed with 1970 Dodge Challenger customized as a funny car, voiced by Lou Romano).

Personalities[]

They like to intentionally cause danger on the highway, speed and do reckless driving. They also seem to like rap music as DJ played rap music while speeding along the Interstate. Also, when Snot Rod sneezes, it causes him to naturally speed up.

Members[]

Boost wasn't always a gang leader. When he was younger, he worked at a garage for elderly cars where he befriended an early drop-tank racer who turned him onto the ways of racing with nitrous. Learning from the master who racked up records on the Great Salt Lake, Boost promised the old timer he'd keep the tradition alive.^[1]

From an early age, DJ, whose full name is Devon Montegomery Johnston III, was interested in all kinds of music. He had a voracious appetite for collecting records and was a gifted student at the nationally renowned East Coast Music Conservatory. One evening at a friend's party, Devon met a gentleman by the name of Wingo. An expert in paint and body modification, Wingo designed a custom paint job for Devon and a wicked sound system to match. Now going by the name DJ, Devon revels in his treble but never loses touch with his bass!^[1]

In grade school, Wingo's outrageous, inappropriate paint schemes didn't comply with the school's strict paint code, and got him into a lot of trouble. These days, Wingo makes a good living designing paint schemes for an illustrious clientèle at his own custom paint shop. Now that his paint doesn't get him into trouble, Wingo and his gang find new ways to get into trouble.^[1]

Snot Rod took his doctor's advice and headed west to find some clean, crisp mountain air to relieve his chronic allergies. On the way he met up with Boost, DJ, and Wingo. The highly modified car group set him as the gang's head of security and crowd control. He still has allergies and explosive sneezing attacks, but his ability to clear the road of pesky traffic is unmatched and much appreciated by his buddies who like the road all to themselves.^[1]

Appearances[]

Cars[]

The Tuner Cars catch Mack nodding off to sleep on the way to California. They amuse themselves by playing a prank on a drowsy Mack by putting him to sleep with soothing music (Kenny G's "Songbird") and nudging him onto the rumble strips along the shoulder. The resulting vibration inadvertently causes Mack's trailer door to open and a sleeping McQueen to roll out of the trailer. When the chronically sniffly Snot Rod sneezes, Mack is startled awake and the Tuner Cars accelerate away, leaving the still-sleeping McQueen behind out on the highway near Radiator Springs, thus making the Tuner Cars mostly responsible for McQueen's disappearance.

The gang ultimately gets their comeuppance during the end credits of the movie when they make the mistake of speeding in Radiator Springs, causing them to be apprehended by the Sheriff for reckless driving and destruction of property and remanded to the impound yard to do their time. It is then later revealed that Doc Hudson himself sentenced the Tuner Cars to messy roadwork of towing Bessie for their actions. It could be implied that they would be released from Radiator Springs for good behavior if they fixed the road.

Other appearances[]

The Tuner Cars later appear in the short Tokyo Mater with the exception of Snot Rod. They did another reckless driving causing Sheriff to chase them as well calling them as "import punks".

Video games[]

Cars: The Video Game[]

In the Cars video game, two specific levels relating to the Tuner Cars are called "Delinquent Road Hazards" and "High Speed Heist".

In Delinquent Road Hazards, McQueen tries to enter Tailfin Pass only to find them blocking the road. Boost tells McQueen that the road is closed but McQueen believes it's okay. DJ then responds that its closed to McQueen, in which he finds out that the word meant to get lost. McQueen then challenges the tuner cars that if he wins, they let him pass.

Cars 2: The Video Game[]

The Tuner Cars are downloadable playable characters.

Cars: Lightning League[]

In Cars: Lightning League, DJ is the DRH to be an unlockable playable character.

Disney Parks[]

DJ Paint the Night — DJ in Paint the Night Parade.

Out of the cars, only DJ appears in Cars Land at Disney California Adventure, where he plays songs for the guests as part of hosting his daily dance activity, DJ's Dance n Drive. This show and DJ himself would be relocated to Disney's Hollywood Studios as additional entertainment outside Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy.

DJ also appears in Paint the Night Parade in Hong Kong Disneyland and Disney California Adventure riding on Mack's fold-deck until 2020 (before the COVID-19 pandemic) as he spinning his wild music, he was replaced by Sheriff since 2023 as arresting him.

Trivia[]

In Italy, Boost and DJ are voiced respectively by F1 racers Giancarlo Fisichella and Jarno Trulli, while Wingo is dubbed by 24 Hours of Le Mans racer Emanuele Pirro.
Snot Rod was supposed to be in the unmade Cars Toons episode Import Mater. This episode was later remade into Tokyo Mater, in which he didn't appear.
- Snot Rod is the only delinquent road hazard that doesn't appear in Tokyo Mater.
- Snot Rod is the only delinquent road hazard to appear in Cars: Mater-National Championship.
- Snot Rod appears on a calendar in Andy's room in Toy Story 3 as a normal car.
Wingo was the only Delinquent Road Hazards member that was playable in Arcade Mode in Cars: The Video Game, despite Boost and DJ being playable in the High Speed Heist minigame.
A repainted, non-anthropomorphic version of Boost could be seen on a poster on the wall of Andy's room in the trailer of Toy Story 3. This poster was replaced in the final movie by a picture of Finn McMissile.
While DJ's license plate states that his hometown is Treble Town,^{[citation needed]} he has come to visit Tokyo in Tokyo Mater depicts him as one of Tokyo's residents, making it unclear where DJ's true town of origin is.
If they hadn't tricked Mack into falling asleep, McQueen would have never ended up in Radiator Springs where he would be taught humility and how friendship is more important in life than racing and winning. However, McQueen would still be in his cocky, arrogant personality due to wanting to win the Piston Cup, in which he gave up on after having ended up at Radiator Springs and learning life lessons from them.
DJ's original die-cast depicted him with blue stripes rather than green. This was corrected in 2009, but the incorrect striping returned on his 2015 re-release.
The song DJ plays in his introduction is "Rollin' in the Rearview" by Headbone and Jabu; he later plays "Songbird" by Kenny G to put Mack to sleep.
Despite being antagonists, DJ is considered to be friendly to the theme park guests at Cars Land.

Gallery[]

References[]

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 "Car Finder" (supplementary material on Blu-ray Disc release of Cars). 2007. Blu-ray Disc. Walt Disney Home Entertainment, 2007.

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