Anyone get the funny joke when Lighting McQueen has the spotlight put on him for his speech to all the Rust-Ez people after the first race? I am talking about how the whole room gets quiet and there are cricket noises playing and then you can hear a faint “FREE BIRD!”
Yeah, I got it; quirky, random, and fun. 
I do get that joke! It’s quite a geeky music joke really, when you think about it.
I’m not sure how many people outside of the United States would know about the Freebird song and it’s notoriety at Gigs (Although i wouldn’t want to assume anything)
But it is a funny joke!
All I know about it is that some band (don’t remember the name, I’ll have to check) had a song called Free Bird, and it was a highly requested song. So people would shout it out at concerts as a request to play it. Soon, it became common for that song to pop up at any time when a band asked for requests. I’m not all sure if that’s correct, but I think it’s close. I’m actually kind of surprised no one has brought this up before. I didn’t understand it at first either.
It’s a redneck thing; the band who recording the Southern Rock classic, pretty much now regarded as the “Redneck National Anthem”, was 70’s Southern Rockers, Lynard Skynard. It’s a very popular request anytime you have a cover band playing a gig wherever there are rednecks, good ole’ boys(and girls), and partiers in general, but you’re much more likely to hear the request(usually very loud and very drunk)in the Southern US. I’m a born-and-bred Southerner myself, borderline redneck(some might say full-fledged), so I’m very, very familiar with this song, believe me. The joke is that in pretty much every crowd where you have rednecks, whether there’s music or not, there’s gonna be at least one joker who, after downing one too many brewskies(or whater adult beverages are being served), is gonna stand up and start hollerin’, “PLAY FREE-BIIIIIIRRRRD!”
The opening chords to this song can actually serve as a “redneck detector”, a sure way to find out if there are any rednecks nearby, since they will inevitably start cheering loudly as soon as they hear it, giving their presence away, although another well-known Lynard Skynard(pronounced “LEN-erd SKIN-erd”)song, “Sweet Home Alabama”, will generally have the same effect.
pitbulllady
I was close! I never really took a whole lot of time to research that. XD
I didn’t even have to research it; I’m a native of the South, a fan of Southern Rock and Lyrnard Skynard, and I’ve been called a “redneck” myself, a time or two. I probably don’t quite fit the stereotype-don’t drink or smoke, don’t have a pile of young’uns(unless you count the four-legged, eight-legged and no-legged varieties), still have all of my teeth and actually not only graduated from high school(with honors)but have two advanced degrees…but the roots are there. I grew up listening to “Freebird” and other examples of Southern Rock, so that is an integral part of the cutlure I’m from. I cannot even count the number of times I’ve heard someone holler, “PLAY FREEEBIIIIRRRDDD” in my life-time, or seen the reactions that playing the first chords of that song or of “Sweet Home Alabama” can produce in a crowd, lol!
pitbulllady
Well, I live up north, so research was vital. 
I never did understand the meaning of that line until now. In fact, it took me till I got the DVD and was able to put captions on to even verify what was actually being said.
I live outside the states but I got the joke after some research. And I’ve never heard the song before to begin with!
There’s also other Southern jokes like how one of the Rust-Eze brothers made a jibe about how his other brother was always ‘lit’ (Meaning ‘drunk’). 
That’s one of the things I enjoy about the movie. There are so many little jokes like that!
I heard about this a while ago and laughed my head off when I saw the movie shortly after.
I didn’t get that at all. I figured it was some sort of in-joke but never really bothered to research the reference. Thanks for the information, pitbulllady!
When I first saw the movie, I thought they were yelling “Free Beer!”
Guess not. 
But even after watching the movie with subtitles, it still hasn’t changed in my mind
After I saw Cars again during my Pixar marathon, I heard that joke pop up, and everyone in the room DIED laughing. We’re all music savvy, so we all understood. It’s basically a hick thing, but none of us are hicks. Free Bird is a super freaking popular song, it’s got a huge 6 minute guitar solo/duet at the end, one of the most famous solos of all time actually. I myself am not a huge fan of the song, or Lynard Skynard for that matter, I prefer alternative and modern rock music. The joke was just so random and unexpected though, so funny.