>I'm trying to optimize these queries that someone else wrote because they take abso-freakin-lutely forever when the remote offices are accessing the program. I'm wondering if there is any way that I could make Fox run the sql on the server and just send the resultset across the wire?

I think you need SQL server for this.
(Not sure about that)

>Or is that what it already does when they're running the exe off the server?

No, the exe is run at your local PC, and the processing will also be at the local PC.
If you want to improve performance you can also place the exe local