Ray Kohn's Dukes Show

[RogerDuke]

No, he owns a garage and is a top notch mechanic, maybe even as good as Cooter...LOL

This is pretty amazing. I was walking around our local fair Friday night and saw a guy with an 01 hat on. I was wearing my 01 hat (bought at Ray's stunt show) and my HazzardNet shirt (bought here)  I recognized this guy as someone I once knew so struck up a conversation with him. Come to find out, he's the guy who owns the property where this pond jump will (hopefully) take place and it's the next dirt road over from me!!!  

[RogerDuke]

X

Edited April 6, 2017 by RogerDuke

[RogerDuke]

Can somebody post a link here with Ray's latest jump in Detroit? It can be found on his website at northeast Ohio dukes. 

[HossC]

Here's the first video. There are more at www.northeastohiodukes.net - just scroll down past the newspaper articles.

 

 

[RogerDuke]

Can somebody post info on Ray Kohn's upcoming show in Trumbull County Ohio on Aug 25, 2018. I would appreciate it. Sonny Shroyer will be there!

[HossC]

Here you go, Roger.

More details can be found here.

[RogerDuke]

Thanks Hoss. I still don't know how to post a link and maybe that's best. If I knew how to do that stuff I'd probably get carried away with it. Do you want to know how much tire pressure to put in a 1967 Model 120 International tractor? I'd post that. In fact, I'd post it even if you didn't want to know or didn't care. I'd let you know how the temperature, ground conditions and load you're hauling will affect pressure. I'll let you know how much pressure to put in the back tires on Tuesday and front tires on Saturday. Yep, the world is a better place because I don't know how to post links. 

Edited May 25, 2018 by RogerDuke

[Roth Potter]

And the just released trailer for confirmation.

 

 

[RogerDuke]

Awesome Roth. Thanks a million for posting it. 

[RogerDuke]

August 25 Is getting close so I'm getting pumped up. It will be really cool to see Sonny just 3 days before his birthday. Before I got older and Uncle Jesse became my favorite character Enos was. 

[RogerDuke]

Four days until the show! I'm so excited!

[RogerDuke]

The big show tomorrow! Sonny is going to start meeting folks at 10am. I'll probably be too excited to sleep tonight!

[RogerDuke]

It's amazing how many Dukes fan there are in this 'ol world. I'll post a review later but this place is awesome!

[RogerDuke]

Well, it's the day after the show and I still have a huge smile on my face. I arrived at  the Trumbell County Fairgrounds in Ohio at 12:30 and Enos was there signing autographs. He then went to lunch and I started to talking to folks. It's unusual to be out in public and find someone with a Dukes shirt or hat but here it was unusual to see someone without Dukes clothing (exaggerating slightly here). I was in Hazzard Heaven. The first people I encountered were Dave and Melissia DeWitt of "Dave's Dukes of Hazzard Mobile Museum". These two are awesome. Their mobile museum reminded me of Waylon's museum on "Welcome Waylon Jennings" only smaller. It was loaded with every Dukes toy imaginable and some I never would have imagined. This is truly a labor of love and I am grateful that the DeWitt's have this open to the public and there wasn't even an admission charge to get in. They are what The Dukes of Hazzard are all about! I then bumped into long-time HazzardNet member TimDuke and his General Lee that he has owned for many years. I also talked to another General owner and then met Jason, a Colonel owner, a 69 Charger painted yellow. I sure enjoyed bumping into Tim again. I didn't know he was going to be there. He's a big guy, standing about 6'5" and the trophy he won for his car was almost as tall, estimated at 6'2". He struggled to fit it in his General but eventually pulled it off. I was pretty happy for my friend. I also met a lot of friends since I'm a bit of a talker and am not shy about approaching anyone wearing an orange clunker car shirt. Speaking of Generals, there were 2 of them running around the track. For a small fee you could take a lap and get a picture. 

Finally it was time to meet Sonny, who I had met 8 years ago. (One of his two sons was also there yesterday) I was wearing the 01 hat he had signed back then. Actually the word "signed" doesn't do justice to Sonny's autographs. His signatures are truly artwork. The first thing I said was "I bet you didn't think you'd still be wearing that uniform 40 years later!" He laughed and shook my hand. I presented him with a birthday present (coming up on Tuesday) of a short board that was cut from the original Dukes farmhouse when it was dismantled in 2011, along with a notarized certificate of authenticity. (I also donated one to a very appreciative Dave for his museum). I told them both  that the grandson of the landowner was once an active member here on HN. The line for autographs was long. He signed for 5 hours and treated each person like they were the most important person he had ever met in his life. That's classic Sonny Shroyer for you. Meeting him again was a true honor. He is a southern Georgia gentleman to the core. 

And now the stunt show. Ray Kohn is amazing. Every time I see a show I walk away thinking it can't get better and every show after that is better. I don't know how he does it. The show started at 6:00 with a dramatic entrance of Sonny onto the track. After he was introduced the cast was next, each driving a vehicle out. And of course the music was amazing. Sonny then led the show with a prayer the drama began. I don't have time to detail every stunt (maybe Hoss can post a link to some videos) but they were fantastic. The first one scared me a little because Mike, my favorite stuntman, appeared to be hurt but ended up being fine. I gave him a big Hazzard hug after it was over. Thankfully, nobody got injured the entire show. There were explosions that shook the bleachers, loud gunfire, great acting, high drama and of course, lots of comedy. Flash stealing Rosco's car and Rosco chasing him on a mini 4-wheelers was the best comedy routine to me. Tony, who plays Rosco is hilarious. While I'm on the subject of favorites, everybody is great but Ray's brother Rodney is an absolutely AMAZING Boss Hogg! I haven't seen every stunt show but this is the first time I remember seeing Big Ed Little and Cletus in one. The guy who plays Sheriff Little is unbelievable. What a fantastic addition to the show. His voice is exactly like Ed's. After the Duke boys saved the day it was sunset and time for the big jump. I believe this was Ray's 23rd and they are as dramatic as you can imagine. It's always great to see the green flag go up when the stunt crew runs over to see he is okay. Ray is one brave man and truly dedicated to the greatest show to ever grace a television screen. 

And that wasn't all. They also did an awesome tribute to all the actors who have passed on to Hazzard Heaven, the stunt actors passing on a large poster of each of them to each other while displaying them to the applauding thousands in the audience. It was emotional. Thanks so much to Ray for doing that. Then came Big John. They brought out a John Deere monster truck to crush the cars Ray jumped over. After the forklift lined up the wrecked cars and the actors parked the show cars they opened the gates for people to flood in to get autographs and see the cars close up. There were lines for autographs for each stunt actor, Ray's was the longest. These folks are celebrities. And the big celebrity, Sonny Shroyer stayed for the whole show! The Full Moon rose and the show ended. I left around 10:00, very grateful that I am lucky enough to live only an hour from the Northeast Ohio Dukes and the dozens of folks who work hard to keep the Dukes tradition alive. There were so many young folks there, making me realize that The Dukes of Hazzard will live on forever. Thank you Ray. Thank you cast. Thank you Dave, Melissia, Tim, Jason and Bill. I didn't catch one of the many shirts that they shot out between stunts but I did buy a CNH 320 plate and get Sonny's autograph on one of my pieces of wood from the original farm. Yesterday was a day I'll never forget!

[Rollman]

Thanks for the writeup, Roger!!!

[HossC]

Great review, Roger. If only we could teach you to take and post pictures...

Aside from the short videos on the Northeast Ohio Dukes' Facebook page, I've only found one pretty poor quality video of the event so far. There is, however, a promise on the Facebook page to upload a 360 degree video to YouTube when its rendered. I'll keep checking back for that. Meanwhile, here's a photo  with Enos in the center (full size image here). Are you in there somewhere, Roger?

[RogerDuke]

Thanks so much for posting this Hoss. I am right behind Big Ed Little's head. If that would have been Emma Tisdale there instead you would have seen me. 

[RogerDuke]

On May 18 the Northeast Ohio Dukes is having another event but it isn't a stunt show. It involves a film. Byron Cherry is involved. Can you go to their website Hoss (or anybody for that matter) and post a link since I'm bad with these kind of things. 

[HossC]

Here you go, Roger. You can get tickets here. They're $5 cheaper if you buy them early. Full prices and line-up are below the picture.

There will be food, popcorn, and drinks available for purchase. Concession stand will be open entire time of event.

DVD's will be available for purchase at event.

At the Door:
Adult tickets $15.00
Kids 6 to 10 tickets $10.00
Kids 5 and under are Free
*ticket shipping includes processing and postage
    
STUNTLIFE The Wild Ride Movie Premiere Presented by Northeast Ohio Dukes and Highway Pictures. Hosted at the Yankee Lake Ballroom.

5:00 - 7:30 Meet and greet with the cast and stunt team. Have your photo taken with the GENERAL LEE on display inside the ballroom. All other star cars from our show will also be on display including KITT from Knight Rider and the famous Detroit GENERAL LEE jump car.

7:30 - 8:00 Q&A with the cast of the NEOD and film producer AJ Satterfield of Highway Pictures.

8:00 Movie Premiere on the indoor projector.

[RogerDuke]

Thanks Hoss. If anybody has any questions for the Q@A session please let me know. I'll introduce myself as a representative of the HazzardNet to try to recruit new members. (a lot of the people there will already recognize me anyways) 

[Meadowmufn]

11 hours ago, RogerDuke said:

Thanks Hoss. If anybody has any questions for the Q@A session please let me know. I'll introduce myself as a representative of the HazzardNet to try to recruit new members. (a lot of the people there will already recognize me anyways) 

Ooh! Please do! That'd be great to have HazzardNet represented there. It's been a long time since I've been well enough to get out to a Dukes event.

[HossC]

I wondered why the Northeast Ohio Dukes had changed their logo to modified version of the Trans-Am "screaming chicken" - see here. Maybe some of y'all knew, but they were planning to do a tribute to Burt Reynolds by performing a Smokey and the Bandit jump in Detroit. Then the authorities saw the old Georgia flag on the movie car (which wasn't going to be used on the stunt car) and cancelled the jump. You can see Ray explaining the situation here.

[RogerDuke]

20 hours ago, Meadowmufn said:

Ooh! Please do! That'd be great to have HazzardNet represented there. It's been a long time since I've been well enough to get out to a Dukes event.

Thanks MM. I should have asked your permission first but I suspect you know me well enough by now that I won't say anything but good things about this place (ignoring all those times back in the old days that you threw me in the Hazzard County Jail.)

[RogerDuke]

Big night coming tomorrow...pretty excited!

[RogerDuke]

I'm off to Hazzard County and couldn't be more excited. I hope I get the chance to talk to Coy for more than a few minutes. I'll have a full report tonight when I get home late. I am so appeciative of folks like Meadowmufn and Ray Kohn who love the Dukes enough to put so much time into it. Ray and his stuntman are amazing. Not only do they spend a lot of time keeping the Dukes legacy alive but they risk serious bodily harm doing so. Now that's dedication!