Thousands flock to see them Dukes

By TOM R. DUGGIN Sports Editor for the Smithville Review

John Schneider, left, and Tom Wopat perform Schneider?s 1984 country hit, ?What?s A Memory Like You (Doing In a Love Like This)? at the CMT DukesFest Sunday in Nashville. The two played Bo and Luke Duke on TV?s ?Dukes of Hazzard? from 1979-85.

NASHVILLE ? In an orange-clad atmosphere, that could only be rivaled by a Tennessee Volunteers football game, some 100,000 fans gathered over the weekend at the sixth annual DukesFest celebration, which reunited the remaining cast members of the TV series, ?The Dukes of Hazzard.?

The two-day event featured autographs by the show?s stars, performances from the cast members, a demolition derby, a parade of General Lees ? and was capped by a Sunday afternoon stunt show, featuring Cory Eubanks and a record-setting, 202-foot jump of the General Lee.

?Dukes was good, wholesome, family entertainment, and that?s been what has helped keep it popular all these years,? said actor John Schneider during a Friday afternoon press conference.

Schneider, who played Bo Duke on the series, teamed with old pal, Tom Wopat (Luke Duke), for some good-natured fun in front of a capacity audience at Tennessee Motor Speedway, both Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

The two sang some of their country hits from the 1980s, and clowned around with each other on stage.

On Sunday, James Best (Rosco P. Coltrane) was joined by ?The Mayberry Deputy? David Browning, who does a Barney Fife impersonation, for more shenanigans, while the Duke duo hit the stage for another tune for the second-day crowd.

Afterwards, the original Hazzard County stunt team came together for a stunt show, complete with wrecked police cars. No Dukes stunt show would be complete without a jump of the legendary General Lee, which Eubanks did as the grand finale to the weekend?s festivities.

?Y?all wanna do this again?? Ben ?Cooter? Jones asked the screaming capacity crowd Sunday afternoon. The crowd?s roaring approval likely means DukesFest will return to Music City in 2007.

Whether the entire cast will be back, however, may be another story. This year?s DukesFest was the first in which the entire living cast participated.