One year ago today, Disney-Pixar released a new animated movie, “Cars.”

The movie starred Paul Newman, Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, Bonnie Hunt, George Carlin and Cheech Marin.

The film had another star that wasn’t listed on marquees, but loomed large — Route 66.

The film grossed $460 million worldwide, won two Golden Globes and earned three Academy Award nominations.

But as important, “Cars” also shined a spotlight on the Mother Road at a time when its businesses had been buffeted by a post-9/11 recession and steeper gas prices. “Cars” was providing more publicity to Route 66 than anything since Michael Wallis‘ best-selling “Route 66: The Mother Road” was published in 1992.

More than a year after “Route 66 Guide to the ‘Cars’ Movie” was posted, it continues to be the top post on Route 66 News nearly every day. It has generated more than 52,000 page views, and hundreds continue to surf to it every week.

Obviously, Internet users remain interested in the “Cars” movie and its real-life inspirations. But did the movie indeed help the real mom-and-pop businesses on the Mother Road?

Stay tuned …

The New York Times reports on a new travel-industry twist — photography safaris.

Combining guided tours to exotic locales with hands-on instruction, photo safaris seek to turn the everyday Ofoto user into a budding Ansel Adams.

“They are a huge and growing market,” said Reid Callanan, the director of Sante Fe Workshops (www.santafeworkshops.com), a photography school that offers dozens of tours every year, including a seven-day workshop in Tuscany with National Geographic photographers. “Everybody and their brother, most major photo magazines and many photographers are doing them.”

Workshop regulars rave about the camaraderie. Everybody is there to take pictures and talk shop. And thanks to the immediacy of digital photography, there are daily critique sessions, giving students instant feedback on their work. Students are not only escorted to postcard-ready spots, but are taught how to take postcard-perfect shots.

And Route 66 is among the beneficiaries of such business. The safari featured in the Times report takes place at several California Mojave Desert sites along the Mother Road.

In a Springfield (Ill.) Journal-Register story about the city of Lincoln’s attempt to revive The Mill, a dilapidated, long-closed restaurant on Route 66, there is some good news:

Now, the foundation chairman says more of the structure can be saved than was first thought, including the original portion of the building.

“It’s in better shape than we thought,” said Geoff Ladd, who is also executive director of the Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau of Logan County. Plans are to convert the building to a Route 66 museum.

He explained that The Mill - named after its Dutch theme and signature windmill at the entrance of the restaurant - was constructed in four sections, beginning with the original Blue Mill in 1929. Soon after World War II, a former Army barracks from Camp Ellis, near Havana, was converted for use as the second section of the restaurant.

“We were thinking that would have to go as well, but we decided we’re going to be able to leave that because of its historical significance,” said Ladd.

He said the former kitchen and a back section will have to be demolished.

It’s hoped that The Mill can be reopened as a Route 66 museum in 2008. For more, go to the The Mill preservation site here.