Little Lightning McQueen Fan Yelling — Small red fan car painted like Lightning McQueen yelling behind a chain-link fence next to a silver minivan in a scene

Little Lightning McQueen Fan Yelling

2023viral videoclassic

Published October 26, 2026

A fan-made edit from Pixar's Cars 3 pairing two shots of young Maddy McGear screaming Lightning McQueen's name became a wholesome TikTok template in early 2023. By March of that year, creators were layering captions about cheering on friends, siblings and partners over the clip, with versions pulling tens of millions of views.

pixar memes tiktok sound trends wholesome memes delayed virality memes 2023 memes

Overview

The clip stitches together two short scenes from Cars 3 in which Maddy McGear, a small girl in the stands, cups her hands and shrieks "LIGHTNING!" as McQueen roars past1. TikTok users set the audio over footage or text captions describing someone they personally root for, usually a sibling scoring a goal, a partner finishing school or a friend posting selfies2. The joke lands because the fan's unhinged enthusiasm feels like exactly the energy a supportive loved one brings3.

Most versions keep the Pixar audio intact and overlay a POV-style caption such as "me watching him achieve his goals"2. Variations swap the subject for pets, celebrities, athletes or fictional characters, but the sincere tone stays the same, which is what separated the format from more ironic TikTok trends of the period4.

Origin & Background

Platform
YouTube (source edit) / TikTok (viral spread)
Date
2023

The two Maddy McGear shots originate in Disney and Pixar's 2017 feature Cars 3. YouTuber benjamin darden isolated and combined both cheering moments into a single 20-second clip uploaded on June 27th, 20211. That compilation sat quietly for over a year before TikTokers rediscovered it.

The earliest known meme edit came from TikTok user @elyssapulizzi18, who on January 23rd, 2023 posted the paired clips with the overlay "POV: me watching him achieve his goals," set to the song "ily" by l2. The post pushed past 6.4 million views within two months and set the wholesome tone every follow-up copied3.

How It Spread

After @elyssapulizzi18's post took off, the format moved quickly through For You pages. On January 30th, 2023, @schandona.redman posted their own version that collected over 4.4 million views in roughly a month5. A February 28th entry from @alixcassity reached more than 338,000 views in a week as the trend widened past its original pocket of users6.

March brought the biggest numbers. @georgiarosecurves posted a take on March 1st, 2023 that passed 14 million views inside a week7, and @caughtavibecreations followed on March 4th with a version that collected over 2.3 million views in four days8. By March 8th, confused viewers were asking /r/OutOfTheLoop what the Lightning McQueen screaming clip was all about9, a reliable sign a TikTok trend had broken containment3. Other March edits from accounts including @coolmathofficial kept the audio in rotation through the spring10.

Timeline

2017-06-16

Pixar's Cars 3 is released in theaters, introducing Maddy McGear as Lightning McQueen's number one fan.

2021-06-27

YouTuber benjamin darden uploads a cut combining both scenes of Maddy screaming McQueen's name.

2023-01-23

TikTok user @elyssapulizzi18 posts the earliest known meme edit with the caption "POV: me watching him achieve his goals."

2023-01-30

@schandona.redman's version of the format reaches millions of views, confirming the trend is spreading.

2023-03-01

@georgiarosecurves posts a take that passes 14 million views in a week, one of the format's peak hits.

2023-03-08

A Redditor asks /r/OutOfTheLoop to explain the Lightning McQueen TikTok trend.

How to Use This Meme

Creators typically keep the exact Cars 3 audio of Maddy screaming and layer a POV caption describing a person they are proud of or obsessed with in a loving way. A common convention is to point the camera at the subject (a partner, a baby, a pet) during the yell, or to run static text over the clip itself. The humor relies on sincerity, so ironic or mean captions tend to miss the format.

Frequently Asked Questions