Life in the Fast Lane, Bobby's Saga

Life in the Fast Lane, Bobby's Saga
Air date	May 3, 1998
Written by	John Altschuler
Directed by	Adam Kuhlman
Episode guide
Previous	"Junkie Business"
Next	"Peggy's Turtle Song"

"Life in the Fast Lane, Bobby's Saga" is the thirty-third episode of King of the Hill. It was first aired on May 3, 1998. The episode was written by John Altschuler, and directed by Adam Kuhlman.

Summary

In order to teach Bobby the meaning of hard work and earning his own money, Hank has Bobby get a job at the racetrack but is unaware that Bobby's new boss is highly unstable.

Plot

Promotional art

In the outskirts of Arlen, Boomhauer races his souped-up Dodge Coronet against a Chevy Nova. Boomhauer wins, but the driver of the other vehicle turns out to be a police officer. The cop tells Boomhauer about an amateur race at the speedway that weekend. The winner of the competition gets to drive the pace car when NASCAR comes to town. Later, Bobby interrupts his father and asks for a check for $175 so he can purchase a new bicycle. Hank realizes his son has no concept of the value of a dollar and plans on teaching him by giving him a dollar, hoping he could use it to start a small business, but gets the exact opposite when he sees that Bobby spent it on a burrito and quesadilla from a fast-food restaurant's value menu. He then concludes it is time for Bobby to get a job. Shortly thereafter, Bobby accompanies his father and Boomhauer to the Arlen Speedway. There, Hank strikes up a conversation with a soda boy named Tommy. Impressed by the boy's "can-do" attitude, and hoping it will rub off on his son, Hank sets about getting Bobby an interview with Tommy's boss, Jimmy Wichard. The moment Bobby is hired, Tommy hands his drink tray to Bobby, hops a fence, and runs away.

Bobby finds that life in the speedway stands is an arduous one. He also discovers that Wichard is both mentally handicapped and a crazed taskmaster. Meanwhile, Hank, Dale, and Bill run through some pit crew drills with Boomhauer, hoping to increase their speed. When Bobby returns home from the track, he announces his decision to quit his job, describing Wichard's cruel stupidity. Convinced Bobby is exaggerating, Hank gives his son a pep talk, reminding him to give a hundred and ten percent. When Bobby returns to work, he tells Wichard he will be the best employee he has ever had. Wichard responds by promoting the boy as his "go-to guy." Shortly thereafter, Boomhauer's big race gets under way. Hank, Dale and Bill cheer him on from the sidelines. Boomhauer pulls into the pit and the three men spring into action. Unfortunately, Bill pays too much attention to a smudge on the vehicle's rear window and climbs into the back seat. Boomhauer pulls onto the track where he is easily lapped by the other cars. Boomhauer places fourth, but Hank reminds his friend he is only three accidents away from driving the pace car. Meanwhile, Wichard forces Bobby to don a hot dog suit, causing the drunken crowd to pelt him mercilessly with trash.

As the NASCAR race gets under way, one amateur driver after another loses control of the pace car. Meanwhile, Hank advises Bobby to listen to Wichard, believing he knows best, only for Dale to immediately warn Hank of Wichard's legitimate insanity, which quickly uneases him. Shortly thereafter, a thirsty Wichard calls to Bobby, who is selling sodas in the infield from across the track. Bobby proceeds to the overhead crossing zone, but Wichard instructs Bobby to just run across the track. Horrified, Hank races over and pulls his son back over the guard rail. When Hank realizes Wichard put Bobby's life in jeopardy and is still demanding Bobby cross the track to give his a soda, he angrily runs across the track to confront him. Hank is unable to clear a fence that separates himself from Wichard, who proceeds to taunt him. Now thoroughly enraged, Hank kicks his way through the fence and proceeds to kick Wichard's ass while Peggy photographs the event. Meanwhile, Hank's run across the track leads to Jeff Gordon's car speeding out of control, which gives Boomhauer his big chance.

Later, Hank admits to Bobby he was wrong for ignoring what he said about Wichard, but also says he did a good job working harder than anyone in their neighborhood, offering to pay Bobby the money he earned from the job. Bobby, however, refuses and admits he was fine before cash was involved. The episode ends with the two settling on getting a couple pairs of pants and calling it even.

Characters

• Hank Hill
• Peggy Hill
• Bobby Hill
• Luanne Platter
• Dale Gribble
• Jeff Boomhauer
• Bill Dauterive
• Clint "Radar" Jemson
• Jimmy Witchard
• Tug
• Dale Earnhardt
• "Tommy"
• Jeff Gordon (mentioned)

Stinger Quote

• Jimmy Wichard: "Do it, you monkey boy!"

Trivia

• Dale Earnhardt guest stars in this episode, the only time he or any other NASCAR driver had guest starred on King of the Hill.
• The episode is a reference to the Eagles song "Life in the Fast Lane".
• This episode features the second time Hank literally makes good on his word to "kick someone's ass", as the episode's climax has him kicking Jimmy Wichard into submission for endangering Bobby's life. The first time involved Mr. Li in "Hank's Unmentionable Problem".
  • The scene where Hank is kicking Jimmy is reused in a flashback in "The Texas Skillsaw Massacre".
• Dale Earnhardt Sr. makes a cameo in this episode speaking to the men (Hank, Bill, Dale).
• Though the episode greatly hyped Jeff Gordon, he did not guest star.
• Syndication cuts the scene in which Boomhauer gets to drive the pace car.
• Bill reveals that his father made him wear corrective shoes which kids would laugh at. This would be the second troubling memory that Bill mentions in regard to his relationship with his father. The first being that his father punished him by making him wear "Pretty, pretty dresses."
• When Jeff Gordon crashes, you can barely hear him yell, "daddy!".
• The pace car shown in the episode is a 1996 Dodge Viper GT-S pace car. This episode is incorrect with the pace car because the Viper GT-S was made the official pace car of the 1996 Indy 500. It was never made a pace car for stock car racing.
• In February 2001, In the United Kingdom, Sky One removed the scene where both Hank, Dale, Bill and Boomhauer meet Dale Earnhardt in the pit zone area, in which this episode aired two days after Earnhardt's death occurred. In April 2001, two months after his death, this scene was still edited from Sky One.^{[citation needed]}

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