As the old saying goes, when it rains, it pours. And, as the Hollywood natives at the world premiere of Disney/Pixar's Cars found out, in North Carolina, when it pours, it floods. In an unprecedented marketing move, the Mouse House and its newly-acquired Pixar subsidiary chose the Lowe's Motor Speedway in the city of Charlotte for its grand gala. That's right, not the El Capitan in Los Angeles -- a NASCAR speedway. The decision left many curious and a few skeptical as to the suitability of a racing establishment for a movie premiere, but days of thunder didn't prove to be a problem; an evening of rain dampened the event instead.

Despite months of wishing for sunshine on the part of everyone from Bob Iger down to the parking staff, the southern skies gave way to unholy downpour just as the press and guests of honor began to arrive. Unaccustomed to the weather (it was the first rainstorm of a Disney premiere on either coast, according to one cast member), Disney's imported-from-LA premiere staff did their best to organize the masses fleeing from the elements in the midst of an unfamiliar location. Still, even the plastic covering couldn't prevent the steady stream of water from soaking the red carpet and one question was on everyone's mind: what are they going to do?

Following the dispatch of a few Carolina Panthers football stars to sign autographs for the small group of fans assembled on the other side of the path, the stars of NASCAR made their way out. I first spoke with "the King" himself, the legendary Richard Petty. Both Richard and his wife Lynda provided supporting voices in Cars, as did a few other NASCAR notables with whom I talked. I asked Petty which gave him the bigger thrill, the big screen or the speedway, and he of course replied with the latter. Recording for Cars was a lot of fun, Petty said, but it's an "after [racing] deal" that he doesn't plan to return to anytime soon.

Television legend Katherine Helmond ("Soap", "Who's The Boss") was a pleasure. She hadn't yet seen the movie, but she was excited by Pixar's custom filmmaking process. When I asked her who made for the tougher boss, Tony Danza or Cars director John Lasseter, she thought for a moment and concluded that Danza lives up to his role. Her testimony of the creative freedom encouraged at Pixar matched that of many celebrities working with the studio, including Blue Collar comedian Larry the Cable Guy. He told me that working from a script wasn't so different from his improvisation on stage. Extremely cordial, Larry said, "John Lasseter told me...'Hey, this is your character, man, make it your own'... He told me to make it me and I made it me." Before leaving, he added his trademark slogan, "Git-R-Done!"

Other celebrities on hand included sports announcer Bob Costas and actors Paul Dooley (Insomnia), Tony Shalhoub ("Wings", "Monk"), Dave Foley ("NewsRadio", A Bug's Life), and Edie McClurg (Ferris Bueller's Day Off). Jenifer Lewis did an impression of her character in Jackie's Back for me and Cheech Marin (yes, Cheech as in "and Chong"), who has spent years working with Disney in order to clean up his image, mused over the lack of alcohol inside a racing arena.

Things really sped up when the film's top-billed stars made their entrance. I got a wave from country music superstar Brad Paisley and his beautiful wife, actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley (Father of the Bride, The 10th Kingdom), but Cars star Owen Wilson hurried down the carpet, showing little interest for those outside of network television. Screen legend Paul Newman unfortunately made an early exit from the carpet (rumors suggested the still-standing water made it too slippery for the actor, now in his early 80s, though his age didn't keep him from apparently heading straight to the racetrack to complete a lap). Bonnie Hunt (Cheaper by the Dozen, The Green Mile), however, did stop by to talk about the unusual nature of the world premiere, which she referred to as "one giant tailgate party," before being startled by an unexpected and very loud jet plane military salute overhead.

With the stars out of the way (and a parade of NASCAR models and children's charity representatives), all that's left to cover is the appearance of Disney/Pixar brass. John Ratzenberger, who approached me with a compliment on our camera equipment, was first. When asked what a Pixar film would be without his involvement -- he's lent his voice to each of their features -- he replied, "Well it would still be a Pixar movie, it just wouldn't have me in it." He went on to acknowledge his role in bringing Pixar characters to life but credited Pixar's own innovation for their success. Scott Clark and Doug Sweetland, supervising animators for Cars, talked a bit about the Pixar working environment and the level of research required to animate automobiles with anthropomorphic qualities.

Disney CEO Bob Iger wasn't giving interviews, but did stop by our station for just a moment when kindly heckled by an employee of ABC Radio, which Disney is in the process of unloading from its list of corporate assets. John Lasseter, Cars' director and Chief Creative Officer for both Walt Disney and Pixar Animation as well as Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering, stayed on the red carpet longer than anyone and had quite a bit more to say. Dressed in a Cars-flavored suit, he was accompanied on the red carpet by his wife, Nancy, who also chimed in on his interviews from time to time. He revealed that he is a NASCAR fan himself and discussed what he called the "drive-on" parts of famous racers. He told me that early plans are in the works for a major Cars attraction inside the Disney theme parks. While nothing has been confirmed, he said that he's both hopeful and excited for what he sees as a lot of potential for Walt Disney Imagineering. Of course, I couldn't let him go without welcoming him on board to his new roles at Disney on behalf of the studio's fans.