- Jimmy Kowalski: A couple of troopers were chasing me in a '68 Charger. They had a bad wreck. Anybody hurt?
- The Voice: Just some pride, far as I know.
- Jimmy Kowalski: Good.
- The Voice: Anything else you wanna say?
- Jimmy Kowalski: Just that... I never meant for this to become a circus, you know? I'm not a hero or a symbol of anything. I'm just a guy trying to get home to his family.
- Asst. F.B.I. Agent: [reading Jimmy's record] Former Army Ranger, one Bronze Star in Desert Storm.
- Warren Taft: Police record?
- Asst. F.B.I. Agent: Served nine months in Chicago, battery. Some kind of... drug case.
- Warren Taft: Well, it's either drugs or guns.
- Asst. F.B.I. Agent: Sir?
- Warren Taft: That he's running.
- Asst. F.B.I. Agent: How do you figure guns?
- Warren Taft: Idaho, Dornham. Extremists. Right-wing militias. That's it. That's our way in. Domestic terrorism. This boy could be carrying high explosives. Planning another Oklahoma City.
- Asst. F.B.I. Agent: He could be, sir, but we don't have any evidence of that.
- Warren Taft: Well, get it. He's run across four states. It's gotta be something big.
- Hernando: What else you need?
- Jimmy Kowalski: How 'bout the scanner?
- Hernando: Oh. I can order you one. Unless you're in a hurry.
- Jimmy Kowalski: Just a little.
- Hernando: Sounds to me like you really need to know what the Man's up to.
- Jimmy Kowalski: Don't we all?
- Jimmy Kowalski: How can I get to Boise right away?
- Connie: Right away, huh?
- Jimmy Kowalski: Yeah.
- Connie: I can check.
- [checking her computer]
- Connie: Yeah, actually we have a flight 637 that goes to Boise with one stop in Salt Lake City.
- Jimmy Kowalski: When's that leave?
- Connie: 3:30.
- Jimmy Kowalski: Okay, yeah. How much is that?
- Connie: It's 3:30 tomorrow.
- Jimmy Kowalski: No, I gotta go... I gotta go now.
- Connie: Gee, must be an emergency.
- Jimmy Kowalski: Yeah. Thanks, anyway.
- Gilmore: Hey, Chuck, come on, don't. This guy is a speeder, not a serial killer.
- Sergeant Preston: Governor's directive. All pursuits must be terminated by any means necessary before reaching populated areas.
- Gilmore: [in the middle of nowhere] What populated areas?
- Sergeant Preston: We're coming onto Blanding.
- Gilmore: Blanding? Population 50? He meant Salt Lake City, for God's sake!
- Jimmy Kowalski: Hey, did you get the air grabber working?
- Mike Mas: Oh, yeah. '71s are always a bitch, but when they're done right...
- Jimmy Kowalski, Mike Mas: They're bitchin'.
- Warren Taft: [listening to Jimmy talk to the Voice] It must be a cellular phone. Call Frank Fisher at NSA, get some satellite time. Try to pinpoint the signal.
- Official #1: How am I gonna sell it?
- Warren Taft: You're gonna tell Mr. Fisher that the credibility of the federal government is on the line. With all the heat we've taken with Waco and Ruby Ridge, we can't afford to let this Kowalski character embarrass us.
- Vision Quest Indian: Do you believe in everlasting life?
- Jimmy Kowalski: My wife does.
- Vision Quest Indian: But do you?
- Jimmy Kowalski: I'm working on it.
- Jimmy Kowalski: Listen, I need some gas.
- Vision Quest Indian: You need more than gas to get where you're going.
- Jimmy Kowalski: You know who I am?
- Vision Quest Indian: I watch CNN.
- Jimmy Kowalski: Then you know I'm in a hurry.
- Vision Quest Indian: Your journey here has purified you. Your white car symbolizes the white clay that my people once used to prepare themselves for vision quests.
- Jimmy Kowalski: How'd you like to have the baby in the hospital instead of at home?
- Raphinia Kowalski: Can we afford it?
- Jimmy Kowalski: Well, I got a delivery in Salt Lake City if I want it.
- Raphinia Kowalski: Well, that's wonderful.
- Jimmy Kowalski: Means I won't be home 'til Monday, though.
- Raphinia Kowalski: Hmm. I'll live.
- Jimmy Kowalski: I'll call you from the road every chance I get, okay?
- Raphinia Kowalski: I'll be here.
- Asst. F.B.I. Agent: Why don't we let him through?
- Warren Taft: What?
- Asst. F.B.I. Agent: What's the harm? He sees his wife, he plays hoochie-coochie with his kid, we pick him up at home next week, nice and easy. No media, no hostile crowd, no problem.
- Warren Taft: You obviously don't understand the situation.
- Asst. F.B.I. Agent: Yes, I do, sir. That's why I said what I just did.
- Warren Taft: Well, you got two choices. You can stand here and do as you're told, or tomorrow morning, you can be fetching coffee for Dudley Do-Right.
- Raphinia Kowalski: [Jimmy approaches a cougar caught in a trap] You're crazy.
- Jimmy Kowalski: If it tears me up too bad, shoot me.
- Raphinia Kowalski: I don't wanna shoot that lion.
- Jimmy Kowalski: I said "shoot me".
- Raphinia Kowalski: Why can't you just jump off a bridge like any other nutcase?
- [last lines]
- The Voice: It's estimated that the Challenger, riddled with more than 200 bullet holes, hit those bulldozers at over 185 miles an hour. No one could have survived that impact. But no body was ever found. So what happened to Kowalski? The authorities say he's dead, vaporized in the explosion. Some witnesses swear they saw him bail out and escape with the help of allies in the crowd. Still others claim that he and his daughter are now living somewhere out west. I don't know. But it's somehow... reassuring that even in this computerized, bar-coded era of databanks and thumbprints, at least a few mysteries still remain.
- Jimmy Kowalski: Why you doing all this for me?
- Vision Quest Indian: The federal government has called you their enemy. I will call you my friend.
- Motorcycle girl: You must be Kowalski.
- Jimmy Kowalski: You must be insane.
- Motorcycle girl: Why?
- Jimmy Kowalski: Why? Joyriding on the salt flats half-naked?
- Motorcycle girl: You're trying to outrun the combined police agencies of four states, and the FBI, halfway across America, so who's crazy?
- Jimmy Kowalski: There's a difference. I didn't set out to do this.
- Hernando: Nice car. You don't see too many '70 Challengers these days. Heard New Mexico chased one this morning.
- Jimmy Kowalski: That so?
- Hernando: Yeah.
- [indicating his police scanner]
- Hernando: Picks up all sorts of things. You... you a Ranger?
- Jimmy Kowalski: Was.
- [flashback sequence]
- Jimmy Kowalski: You?
- Hernando: Marine. We think Rangers are candy asses.
- Raphinia Kowalski: You Catholic?
- Jimmy Kowalski: No.
- Raphinia Kowalski: Well, if you wanna be with me, you're gonna have to join the church.
- Jimmy Kowalski: You really believe that? All that stuff?
- Raphinia Kowalski: And don't tell me, the only thing you believe in is a 426 Hemi.
- Jimmy Kowalski: I believe what I can understand.
- Raphinia Kowalski: Mm-hmm.
- Jimmy Kowalski: Something goes wrong with an engine, I can fix it.
- Raphinia Kowalski: Mm-hmm. And people aren't like that.
- Jimmy Kowalski: I guess I don't trust things that don't come with a repair manual.
- Raphinia Kowalski: Engines don't demand love. But they also don't give it.