I didn't much care for this The Dukes Meet Cale Yarborough, so the vignette would up resting on this little thing Luke says: "You know how it is when you get a country boy behind the wheel."
He hardly notices it in Hazzard anymore, but here on this old abandoned racetrack with none other that Cale Yarborough, it rears its ugly head. Bo is just a danged show off.
Goes faster around the track then he should, so when Luke hits the switch for the turbocharger, it's a wonder he holds to the road. Screams himself a loud "yee-haw" when they're getting out of the miraculously intact stock car a few minutes later, too. Bo might as well be two again, jumping up and down in front of Luke, trying to get Aunt Lavinia to forget the conversation they're having and pick his cute little blonde self up. It's that exact same feeling all over again when Luke's got to talk around his cousin's ridiculous noises just to tell Mr. Yarborough that he's diagnosed the trouble with the car.
It doesn't get better as the day goes on. In fact the only reprieves he gets from Bo's overbearing need to be noticed come when they are away from the NASCAR driver. Which means Luke's got his own reasons for wanting to help the guy get out of town safely.
But the Dukes can't seem to do that, on the run from Rosco like they are. In the process of trying to shake the sheriff, Bo's showing off all kinds of fancy moves – including a totally gratuitous jump over the Styx River. They pulled the same stunt last year, with no clue as to whether they'd make it or not. But back then they were running from Choctaw's Hammerhand, and that was a sheriff who could drive. Bo could lose Rosco by making a fast left, but he doesn't. No, he's got to show old Cale a thing or two about jumping ravines.
When they get to the other side, Yarborough is sufficiently impressed. "You boys do this all the time?" he asks.
Bo's about to burst, he's so excited. Luke's just being straightforward when he says, "You know how it is when you get a country boy behind the wheel." Nothing to see here, Cale, move along.
Doesn't deter Bo in the least. Oh, he leaves off the jumping, but replaces it with dust spewing takeoffs and spins. Meanwhile Luke's left doing all the thinking about how in heck Rosco keeps finding them. For a minute he even wonders whether Bo's somehow giving them away, just to keep things interesting for Mr. Yarborough.
Of course, as soon as the superfluous car tricks come to a halt, Luke's brain kicks back in gear, and he realizes that the General's been bugged. They have a little fun getting rid of the tiny microphone, then Luke comes up with what might be his best plan yet. Bo's toddler impression ticks up a notch when he insists he's already ahead of Luke and doesn't need anything explained to him, prompting an odd suggestion from Mr. Yarborough that when all is said and done, he will adopt the Duke boys. Bo giggles like a little girl, which is nearly as embarrassing as all the yee-haws he's been hollering all day.
"That might not be such a great idea." Someone's got to bring Bo back to down to earth and it sure doesn't look like it's going to be Cale. "He'll eat you out of house and home." So Luke makes the sacrifice, and withstands Bo's angry glare. Luke bears no guilt. It's only the truth anyway.
For all that Luke has tried to keep Bo's ego in check, it's a lost cause. They'll need Bo in his top driving form in order to make Luke's inspired plan work. So he turns his cousin loose, even hooks up the turbocharger to give them the extra boost they need to get past Boss, Rosco and the Jethro brothers that have been plaguing them all along.
Once they sail over the roadblock, they just keep on going. Jesse'll tan their hides eventually, but first they're going to have the experience of a lifetime. The next day they're at the Illinois 500, and not in the stands. They watch Cale Yarborough's win from the pit.
Jesse's expecting them back within two days. He's doing his best to cover for his probation-skipping boys back home, but they've got to sneak back into Hazzard under the cover of darkness. For all crazy giddiness Bo exuded during the whole time they were in Cale Yarborough's presence, the drive back is gloomy. Luke's got the wheel, because Bo can't be trusted to go fast enough to get them home by the end of the year, much less before tomorrow's dawn.
"He's gonna kill us," is his reasoning.
Luke can't say he disagrees, but it's not like they have any real alternatives.
They get into Pawtucket, just one county the north side of the state line, well before dusk. No doubt there are road blocks all around, so Luke decides they'll have to wait until after dark to run through one. Rosco's not too bright, generally relying on photography to prove they've been out of state. The sheriff hasn't got the smarts to realize that his cheap little camera won't capture anything but black on black after dark.
Luke pulls them off onto that same winding road where they found all this excitement and trouble to begin with. Coasts up under a shady tree and kills the engine. Probably four hours until full dark, so he leans back in his seat to wait.
Bo's been quiet, doing nothing more than fidgeting since about Kentucky. Luke leaves him to himself and closes his eyes.
Opens them again when he gets the uncomfortable feeling that he's being stared at.
"What, Bo?" he asks into that face that's just gawking at him.
There's a little smile creeping into the corners of Bo's mouth. Seems like the show off's still in there, somewhere, looking for the right moment to reveal himself.
"We ain't going down to that track," he informs his fool-grinning cousin. If the Hazzard law's got any brains, someone's staking it out. "So you just get that notion out of your head right now."
Bo's smile gets wider as he shakes his head. "That ain't what I'm thinking, Luke."
He'd like to ignore him, but there's something in the intensity of Bo's stare that makes Luke say, "You're thinking? Well that's a first."
Doesn't work, Bo's still fixated on him, moving closer and up to no good. Luke steadies himself for the wrestling match that's suddenly inevitable. Here comes Bo's hand, pinning his left shoulder, or trying. Luke's sliding down under the hand, but there's no place to go. Bo's weight has shifted faster than Luke would have expected it to, and he's already most of the way turned around, right leg over the console.
The kid should stick to driving, really. Bo's a disaster at this kind of quick maneuvering activity, as proven by the fact that his knee lands on Luke's thigh, bearing most of Bo's weight behind it.
"Bo!" Luke growls at him, but the idiot's undeterred. Just shifts his body until he's not quite killing Luke, merely maiming him. Still fighting over domination of Luke's left shoulder; for whatever reason, it is the key to winning or losing this match. Somewhere in the struggle, the General screams for mercy (either that or Bo's backside hits the inner ring of the steering wheel and that's just Dixie), and Bo jumps in reaction, hitting his head on the roof.
Serves him right, and Luke figures the game is over. Bo doesn't go back to his own side of the bench seat, though, if anything, he just rests more of his weight in Luke's lap. Somewhere between sitting and kneeling, too tall and stooped over, Bo's looking at him again.
"What?" Luke asks, but he already knows. He can feel it really, in the way Bo's shifting against his leg. Can feel his own breath get short, tight, caught.
Bo shrugs. "You know how it is when you get a country boy behind the wheel."