The dream: To tear down dirt roads like the good ol' boys in Dukes of Hazzard
Go to: Dalton, New Hampshire
And enroll at: Team O'Neil Rally School

For anyone who's still doing doughnuts in the Shop-N-Go's gravel parking lot or rocketing the family VW around back roads like Bode Miller on a slalom course, Team O'Neil is the ticket. The sport, big internationally, is called rally, and rookies can learn the art of driving on mud- and snow-covered roads in all-wheel-drive cars here, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Your teacher is five-time champion Tim O'Neil, a zany character who knows his stuff. Class time is spent skidding and slaloming around a six-and-a-half-mile dirt road in an evergreen forest (with his cars, not yours—minor crashes are common). Park at the Mountain View Grand, a 145-room resort in nearby Whitefield, where you can swap rally tales over a couple of Sidecars at the Stagecoach Tavern.
Two-day school, $1,650; four days, $4,150. Double rooms at the Mountain View Grand from $279, including breakfast

Team O'Neil Rally School
Tel: 603 444 4488

Mountain View Grand Resort & Spa
Tel: 800 438 3017