I am not an authority on the Dukes of Hazard show, since I only watched it a few times, and briefly then over the years it was on, so someone correct me if I am mistaken (yeah, like that's going to happen on FR. /sarc)
No, the Dukes of Hazard and their car wasn't racist. I always believed, and still do, that the comedy show promoted the mocking and making fun of the South and those who lived there. It generally caricatured the characters as good ol' boys (and girls), hillbillies, rednecks and bumbling idiots and stereotyped anyone from the south as worthy of being ridiculed.
It was just harmless comedy at the expense of Southerners and all in good fun.
They can have General Lee (the car), but they better keep their hands off those Daisy Dukes.
As a Southerner who watched that show when it was on.....that is not how we took it. Did it make fun of the South? Sure everything was exaggerated and a caricature but it was in good fun. It wasn’t mean spirited and the people were not portrayed as being hateful toward others.
We loved the Dukes of Hazzard. Then again, unlike those Puritans up in the Northeast, we actually have a sense of humor and can laugh at ourselves and have fun.