Hey Ned, I had the pleasure of knowing Rob Gibbs as a huge fan of cars before his passing. He was a lovely man and inspired me a ton. I was incredibly lucky to know him, even if it was only for a few years, I have a lot to thank him for. I have a few anecdotes and behind the scenes details about Rob and his work at Pixar. I wouldn’t share anything that would violate his NDA’s but it extends beyond that. I’d love to have some of if documented with you if you’re ever interested.
Fun fact: Fernando Alonso (F1 champion) has a cameo in all cars films in the spanish dub from Spain. In Cars 1 he's the Mario Andretti car (they didn't change the 3d model). In cars 2 he's with Lewis Hamilton at the party in Tokyo (Pixar replaced the Jeff Gorvette's model with Fernando's). In Cars 3, Alonso replaces Hamilton as Cruz's electronic personal assistant (Sebastian Vettel also replaces Hamilton in the german and italian dubs)