“Cars” director John Lasseter wins Will Rogers Award

John Lasseter, director of Disney-Pixar's summer blockbuster movie "Cars," was given the highest honor at the Will Rogers Awards Evening on Friday in Albuquerque, capping an emotional event that marked the 80th anniversary of historic Route 66.

Lasseter was unable to receive the Will Rogers Award because he was on an overdue vacation in Europe. Dawn Welch, the owner of the Rock Cafe in Stroud, Okla., who served as an inspiration to Sally the Porsche in "Cars," accepted the award for him. Will Rogers' grandson, Chuck Rogers, presented the award. Welch said that Lasseter "electrifies a room … he sees things the way a child sees things." Lasseter was given the honor because "Cars," in the mere two weeks it has been in theaters, has already been proclaimed one of the 10 biggest things to ever happen to Route 66.

Jim Conkle, who served as master of ceremonies, told the audience at the Hotel Albuquerque after the announcement of the award that Lasseter was informed that he'd won it during the world premiere of "Cars" in North Carolina on May 26. "He got a couple of tears in his eyes," Conkle said.

This year's banquet, formerly known as the Steinbeck Awards Dinner, was the first to not be organized by David and Mary Lou Knudson. The two bowed out from the festival last year because of health problems. The John Steinbeck Foundation no longer wanted to be involved with the festival, so the awards dinner was renamed the Will Rogers Awards Evening.

Bob Audette, a longtime Route 66 proponent in New Mexico, earned the Mother Road Lifetime Achievement Award. Audette was born on Route 66 in the 1920s and has served as a Mother Road advocate for decades.

The Mother Road Business of the Year Award went to the Munger Moss Motel of Lebanon, Mo., which is owned by Bob and Ramona Lehman. Ken Turmel, one of the motel's biggest champions, tearfully accepted the award for the Lehmans.

Longtime roadie Jane Dippel of St. Louis won the Mother Road Person of the Year Award, which was presented by her friend Diane Warhover. Dippel was so overcome by her honor that she was rendered into a rare moment of silence, then said she had never won an award in her life before. She then hugged Conkle and Warhover onstage.

Cool Springs Camp, between Kingman and Oatman, Ariz., won the Cyrus Avery Award for best Route 66 preservation project. Owner Ned Leuchtner said his goal with rebuilding the previously abandoned business, which was literally blown up during a movie shoot years ago, was "to make people happy." Presenting the award was Joy Avery, the granddaughter of Cyrus Avery, the "Father of Route 66." Leuchtner also recently purchased the nearby Ed's Camp.

The Founders Award went to the National Park Service and in particular the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program, run by Michael Romero Taylor and Kaisa Barthuli.

Michael Wallis, author of the bestselling "Route 66: The Mother Road," was unable to attend the ceremony because of a book deadline and exhaustion from conducting more than 600 interviews about his role as a Route 66 consultant and portraying the Sheriff of Radiator Springs in "Cars." However, he gave his annual "State of the Route" speech via a cell phone held in front of a microphone. He told the audience about how, just days ago, he had called a called a dying boy who was a "Cars" fan. He regaled the boy with stories of Route 66 and Radiator Springs. "The longer we talked, the stronger he became." Wallis closed his telephoned speech with "I love all of you. Adios." With that, the hundreds of people in the audience gave him a standing ovation.

Later, during an auction, a "Cars" barricade that was purchased was donated to the boy.

A live telephone message also came from television interviewer David Sheehan, who is on Route 66 filming a documentary. He said he "fell in love with (Route 66) and its people" and that the road led him to admire the "diversity of the American dynamic." Sheehan's documentary is being shot for the Travel Channel.

The 2007 Route 66 Festival will be held in Clinton, Okla. It also was announced that the 2008 festival will be in Edwardsville, Ill., and the 2009 festival will be in Flagstaff, Ariz.