To coincide with the International Route 66 Mother Road Festival this weekend, the Springfield (Ill.) Journal Register published a quiz to test your knowledge of America’s most famous highway.

I gained Big Daddy status (barely) by getting 12 of the 15 questions right. The Springfield questions might trip up even the most devoted roadies.

Here’s a video of the funky sights of the quintessential Route 66 town of Seligman, Ariz. You’ll see a lot of the Sno-Cap Drive-In, Angel Delgadillo’s barbershop and other businesses along the main drag.

I and some other bloggers have noticed a plethora of rumors that Disney/Pixar will make a sequel to its 2006 summer hit, “Cars.”

So I thought I’d e-mail Michael Wallis, who supplied the voice at the Sheriff of Radiator Springs in the animated film, and ask whether he’s heard anything about a “Cars 2.” He ran into some folks from Pixar during a tour for his Lincoln Highway book and asked that very question.

Here’s Wallis’ take:

No news has reached me regarding a CARS sequel. In August some of the Pixar team attended my very last Lincoln Highway signing event in San Francisco. Afterwards at dinner, I raised the sequel question, and all I heard was “wouldn’t it be nice,” and “maybe someday,” etc.

If there’s a sequel, believe me, the Sheriff will know. I’ll keep you posted.

So it sounds like Pixar is giving an answer similar to Al Gore’s when people ask whether he’ll run for president again:

Not very likely, but not completely discounting it, either.

If you’re a roadie who happens to be in Florida, you may want to stop at Walt Disney World’s Epcot Center and check out the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, which starts today and runs through Nov. 11.

And why would Route 66ers be interested? Well, there’s this excerpt from a report by the Orlando Sentinal:

It’s Oklahoma, OK? That’s right, O-k-l-a-h-o-m-a. Why focus on a state more renowned for its land rush than its grape crush? Because this is the Sooner state’s centennial, that’s why. And what can we expect? Well, according to festival coordinator Stacia Wake, there will be a chuck wagon and Native American cooking demonstrations. There will also be a display featuring Route 66 [my emphasis], which is all most people from other parts of the country usually see of Oklahoma as they go from one end to the other, and three 16-foot-high exhibits called Walls of Wonder that showcase trailblazing Okies.

Little other information about the Route 66 display is in the article or the Food and Wine Festival guide (it’s a 40-page Acrobat document).

So … is anybody going to check it out?

The Springfield (Ill.) Journal-Register, previewing the International Route 66 Mother Road Festival this weekend, published a great story about car exhibitor Tony Peterson of nearby Staunton, who collects Ford Pintos.

Yes, Pintos. That car that safety advocates said was a fire trap. A model that contains as much infamy as the Edsel.

Peterson has nine Pintos. Peterson says with a straight face: “They’re probably one of the best-looking cars ever made. They’re a lot more stylish than a Mustang ever was.”

Then there’s this gem:

Peterson, however, disputes an assertion in Mother Jones magazine that as many as 900 people died because of faulty fuel tanks. The federal government, he said, documented only 27 cases of people burning to death in Pintos.

Well, that’s a relief.

You can also read about Peterson driving a mint Pinto across the country only at night, because it tended to overheat.

It’s quite a story. Check it out.

I don’t yet have the first DVD box set of the first half-season of the “Route 66″ television show. It’s not going to be released until late October, and review copies haven’t yet been mailed.

However, the folks at Roxbury Entertainment sent a promotional DVD of one episode from 1960 — “The Swan Bed,” shot on location in New Orleans. Tod and Buz’s adventure with an ill-tempered woman, a nervous young girl, sinister smugglers and an epidemic was the third episode of the series.

I watched “The Swan Bed” on my laptop. Even while viewing it with a small screen and dinky speakers, it was apparent that Roxbury Entertainment transferred the original film footage to DVD. The picture was so sharp, you could see co-star Martin Milner’s freckles in several scenes. The sound was clear and didn’t have the muddiness of other TV shows from that era. If nothing else, putting these “Route 66″ episodes on DVD is a form of preservation.

And about halfway through “The Swan Bed,” I started to understand one big part of the show’s appeal. Film director Werner Herzog calls it the “voodoo of location,” and “Route 66″ had it in spades. I recognized several real-life places in New Orleans, including the Mississippi River, the riverfront, the city’s above-ground graveyards, a French Quarter neighborhood and a lightly disguised Cafe Du Monde coffee shop. “Route 66″ wasn’t just on a set; it was in the middle of real places and real people. It may have been fiction, but a dose of reality was always there.

I can’t wait to see the full offering of “Route 66’s” first half-season. Pre-orders for the four-DVD set can be taken here.

Required public hearings about designating Oklahoma’s Route 66 a national scenic byway are working their way across the state, and reports from newspapers are coming with them.

The Associated Press has an article.

The Sapulpa Daily Herald has one.

And the Daily Oklahoman in Oklahoma City attended a hearing in Edmond:

“More neon,” Marilyn Emde said.

Mel Norton said he’d like to see it rebuilt with a mind toward his fellow bicyclists.

“I’ve biked down Route 66 before, and I’d like to do it again, but it needs to be in better shape,” he said.

Bikers come from all around the world to travel Route 66 in Oklahoma, but the state of the road is squandering their good will, Norton said.

Some hesitated to give their suggestions, fearing them too extravagant, but Carter-Burgess representative Lynne Marie Whately said this is the time to think of the best.

“There are many pots of money out there,” she said. “This is the ‘dream big’ part.”

The most popular request was for more signage and to preserve what could be saved of the old Route 66.

Andrews said preservation was a goal, but that it has to be balanced with safety.

Emde, by the way, is executive director of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association.

And I’m presuming the cyclist is referring to western Oklahoma’s portion of Route 66 being in worse condition. Parts of the road west of El Reno are admittedly primitive, mainly because they were built in the 1930s. However, I’m not real keen on replacing original, historic roadbed. And neither is the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program.

A Saturday night music show, titled “Route 66,” soon will air on St. Louis’ flagship radio station, KMOX-AM.

This was initially reported on the STLmedia.net rumor site Tuesday. KMOX account executive Randy Raley confirmed it in an e-mail Wednesday and added that he’s “thrilled” to host the show.

Here’s the announcement in a news release that Raley sent:

Route 66, the iconic highway memorialized in song, winds across the United States, through St. Louis, down through Missouri, Oklahoma, New Mexico and beyond.

KMOX, the iconic radio station established in 1925, blasts its 50,000 watt signal across the vast stretch of Route 66.

Now KMOX debuts a new Saturday night show titled “ROUTE 66 .” ROUTE 66 is hosted by St. Louis radio veteran Randy Raley.

ROUTE 66 on KMOX is a hip, retro slice of life, featuring the music heard on AM radios in the Chevys, Buicks, and Fords driving across this exciting American Highway. On ROUTE 66, you’ll also hear historic moments from the huge KMOX audio vault. ROUTE 66 returns radio to its American roots.

So whether you’re out on the road this Saturday night, or relaxing at home, please enjoy ROUTE 66 on KMOX.

The release provides a sampling of music that will be heard on the “Route 66″ show — Elvis Presley, Percy Sledge, Righteous Brothers, Bobby Darin, Chuck Berry, Frank Sinatra, Temptations, The Byrds, Martha and the Vandellas, Roy Orbison, Tony Bennett, The Platters, and Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels. So the music skews from the 1950s to about the mid-1960s, when AM radio ruled the roost and Route 66 was still a certified U.S. highway.

And the vintage news clips sound like a nice touch.

There’s no word yet when the show will debut. Many broadcasts will be partly pre-empted by St. Louis Blues games during hockey season, but the “Route 66″ show still ought to get some air time unless the team is on the West Coast.

KMOX can be heard on the Internet here. KMOX’s clear-channel signal also can be heard in 43 states and several foreign countries after sundown. I can attest to hearing the “Mighty MOX” loud and clear in Florida and south Texas at night.

So if you’re east of the Rockies, chances are good that you will be able to turn your radio to the 1120 AM frequency and hear Raley’s show on Saturday night.

The Arizona Republic published an excellent preview about this weekend’s Standin’ on a Corner Festival in the Route 66 town of Winslow, Ariz.

Unless you’ve not heard pop radio in the past 30-some years, you know that Winslow’s claim to fame is being mentioned in the Eagles‘ hit song, “Take It Easy,” co-written by Jackson Browne.

The Republic’s article contains a few interesting tidbits:

• Proceeds from the festival go into Standin’ on a Corner Foundation, which works to revitalize Winslow’s downtown. The foundation springboarded from the La Posada Foundation, which save that town’s marvelous Harvey House.
• After tense moments in recent years, the Standin’ on a Corner Park is open to tourists again. A building, on which a mural depicted a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford slowing down to take a look an easy-going drifter, was destroyed by fire in 2004. The mural survived the blaze, but city officials were concerned the wall could collapse. It’s been shored up now, and the site of the destroyed building will eventually be turned into a park.
• The Eagles have never performed at the festival, but they have indeed visited the Standin’ on a Corner Park. They’ve come late at night, to avoid a big hubbub. Also, “when Jackson Browne played in Window Rock a few years ago, he mentioned stopping at the park at three in the morning to avoid the crowds.”

The Journal Record reports that an old Phillips 66 cottage-style gas station at 602 S. Elgin in Tulsa recently opened in its new configuration — as an Avis rental-car business.

The station, built about 1932, was part of an older alignment of Route 66 through downtown. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places.

Local developer Michael Sager acquired the property and used a Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program cost-share grant to help renovate the building.

The other old-style Phillips 66 station in town is here, on Admiral Boulevard.