Dinoco

Background[]

Official Description[]

Every set offered an opportunity and a challenge. The test for the neighborhood Dinoco station was to replicate the style and sheen of the classic1950s gas station, while adding just the right touch of harsh light, oil stains, and cement texture to make it believable.

Appearances[]

Toy Story[]

TheDinoco Gas Station is the place whereAndy'sfamily minivan stops for some gasoline en route toPizza Planet. It is whereWoody (whom Andy has chosen to take with him to Pizza Planet) andBuzz Lightyear (who has followed Woody to avenge him for pushing him out of the window atAndy's house) get stranded as a result of their argument and misunderstanding of each other. ThePizza Planet Truck also happens to stop by at the gas station (Woody labels the Pizza Planet Truck as a spaceship to convince Buzz to tag along), allowing Woody to find his way back to Andy.

A Dinoco tanker truck also stops at the station after Andy's car leaves and before the Pizza Planet truck arrives.

Cars[]

Dinoco is an oil company run byTex Dinoco that sponsors thePiston Cup and is the main sponsor ofStrip "The King" Weathers. Every Piston Cup race car covets the Dinoco sponsorship. InCars, Strip Weathers is on the verge of retiring, causingLightning McQueen andChick Hicks to both battle for the Dinoco sponsorship. In the final race for the Piston Cup, Chick Hicks deliberately sent "The King" crashing off the track, after being fed up with coming second to him in every race. Lightning gave up his bid for the sponsorship as well as the Piston Cup to help "The King" cross the finish line with dignity, making Chick the ultimate winner due to McQueen having realized that friendship is important than winning even at the cost of not earning the Piston Cup. Although Chick Hicks selfishly "won," he was labeled a cheater by the enraged crowds and media who saw his stunt, and apparently, Tex refused to sponsor him as he believed he is too dirty to become their next racer. Tex offered to sponsor Lightning instead for his sportsmanship, but he quietly turned it down, deciding to stay with Rust-eze. He does, however, ask Tex for a helicopter ride for his friendMater. With "The King" retired, it is uncertain who Dinoco is now sponsoring, though at some point between the first and third films, Cal Weathers, who is Strip Weathers’ nephew, becomes the new Dinoco racer.

Dinoco is based on the NASCAR, IndyCar, and airplane fuel corporation called "Sun-Oco", although Sun-Oco sponsors all NASCAR teams and drivers as primary fuel, not just one driver. 

Cars 2[]

As the Dinoco oil company is an important brand in the movieCars, it reappears inCars 2. It is the drink Lightning andMater have in the plane taking them toTokyo. An advertisement for Dinoco can be seen in Tokyo. It is also seen as the fuel of the 12th Pit for the last race of theWGP inLondon.

Cars 3[]

Dinoco reappears in the third movie sponsoringCal Weathers in the Piston Cup, with Strip acting as his crew chief. In the2016 season, Cal races with Lightning McQueen and Bobby Swift, even becoming friends with them and pulling pranks at each other. One race had Cal beat McQueen by a close second. Despite Dinoco sponsoring Cal, Tex still wanted to offer McQueen the Dinoco sponsorship. When new racers such as Jackson Storm enter the racing world, Cal decides to retire, leaving the Dinoco sponsorship open once again. Following the victory of McQueen andCruz Ramirez, Tex offers to sponsor Cruz, of which she accepts. He also buysRust-eze at the end.

Toy Story 4[]

During the family RV road trip,Bonnie's family stops at a Dinoco gas station. A vintage neon Dinoco sign is seen in the background ofSecond Chance Antiques.

Trivia[]

• Dinoco may have been based on theSinclair Oil Corporation (incidentally, the namesake for the Sinclair family in the TV sitcomDinosaurs), which also uses anApatosaurus in its logo.
  • The name, however, may be a reference toSunoco, a chain of gas stations found throughout theUnited States, which is the exclusive fuel provider for the NASCAR series (what thePiston Cup is based on).
• TheCarsT. rex Dinoco logo appears on a lighter onWALL-E's shelf in the filmWALL-E.
• There is a building seen with the Dinoco logo on it when Mater comes out of the water inTokyo Mater. This is most likely one of its headquarters. Dinoco also appears on several advertisements in the episode.
• A new "subsidiary" of Dinoco appeared in the short Heavy Metal Mater, calledDinoco Records. However, this may just be a case of naming rights wherein Dinoco paid to use their name for the record company.
• In an early script forToy Story 2,Al was originally supposed to stop at Dinoco on route to theairport following engine troubles, in which the toys hijacked his car shortly after. In a later deleted scene that was eventually used in the movie but differently, the Dinoco gas station is mentioned byBuzz while he's explaining the route they took to get toAl's Toy Barn.
• The design of the Dinoco-sponsored vehicles resembles that of the NASCAR vehicles sponsored by STP motor oil, andthe King's actorRichard Petty (a former NASCAR driver and a business entrepreneur) drove for STP in his NASCAR career as his primary sponsor.
• In theCars film series, most of the "animals" are also vehicles; however, for some reason, all of the Dinoco logo dinosaurs in their world are not "car-ified".
  • Fittingly, inCars on the Road, car-ified dinosaurs eventually appear in the series.
• InPlanes: Fire & Rescue, a Dinoco oil can is seen.

Gallery[]

Dinoco on the mud flaps of the truck inToy Story

The Dinoco gas pumps featured atFlo's V8 Cafe inCars Land

Dinoco lighter inWALL-E

Cruz Ramirez at the end ofCars 3, sponsored by Dinoco

Dinoco T-shirt

Dinoco gas station inToy Story 4

External links[]

• Dinoco onPixar Wiki
• Dinoco onPixar Cars Wiki

• Toy Story
• Cars

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