My fans bring me massive powersauce. Here I am with possibly my biggest fan, Stephanie McCarthy, at Road Atlanta. image by towell as blanket

"The world had been, like, devastated by nuclear war. There wasn't anything to do, all the bowling alleys had been wrecked."

All there was to do was read Miguel's column on Soup.

OK, enough with the self-deprecating Canadian hoser-humor. I'm back home now in Las Vegas after the Dunlop tire test at Daytona last week.

After several days at the Speedway, I felt we made progress at the test in several key areas including chassis, suspension, and traction control on the CBR1000RR Superbike. Now, it's a matter of putting all of that new knowledge together in one cohesive package and going fast. We're up for it, Honda and I. We've got a great crew on the Honda Roadracing team and I think that we will continue the arc that we started last year when the Superbike program went in-house at Honda. Two seasons ago, we struggled to a degree, whereas this past season, our results were much better. My teammate Jake Zemke won at Utah, I finished on the podium a few times and led races so you can definitely see progress being made. I really think we can continue that in 2007. Additionally, Honda has won the Daytona 200 every year since the race went to the 600 Formula Extreme format and, with the new CBR600RR a known quantity, I have no doubt that we stand a good chance of continuing to own that race.

On the personal front my parents, Yvon and Sophie DuHamel, recently celebrated their forty-seventh wedding anniversary so I really want to congratulate them on that milestone. They're the original Team DuHamel and have been through thick and thin together. It's been wedded bliss from day one, too, let me tell you. It's like they never argue.

Well, a more accurate statement might be to ask if they ever stop arguing. I think they love each other and are so comfortable together that they can just let it all hang out when they're talking—nothing remains unsaid. It's like that scene in Woody Allen's movie "Radio Days" where the kid's parents are shouting at each other, and the father asks angrily, "Oh, so you think the Atlantic Ocean is better than the Pacific Ocean?!" If you've seen that scene, I think you may have been given a glimpse into Team DuHamel. All joking aside, they have done a great job as parents, and what they've shown by example is what has made our family so close and strong.

I'd like to offer further congratulations to my old teammate Nicky Hayden on winning the MotoGP World Championship this year. I did one season of Grand Prix in the 1990s and would like to think that I have a pretty good idea of what Nicky was up against in fighting for the title, even though the bike I rode when I did GP was a far cry from a HRC MotoGP weapon. I think it remains to be a tough row to hoe to be an American in GP racing today, because the backbone of American support in the GP paddock simply isn't there as it is for other nationalities. Regardless, Nicky did a great job, and I'm really proud of him.

It might be old news, but I'm still thinking about the Estoril incident that put Nicky on the ground, threatened his championship and, as we recently learned, actually injured him, luckily not bad enough to stop him from riding at the final round. As someone who has been watching racing since I was five years old when my dad raced professionally, I really need to say that Pedrosa's move in that corner was the most selfish thing I have ever seen a racer do in my life. When your teammate has a great shot at winning the championship, I think every racer with a brain knows that you need to ride with the greater good in mind, you need to think big picture. The way Pedrosa tightened up on Nicky when Nicky passed him and then all-out torpedoed him a lap later was unconscionable.

Making matters worse, I was really disappointed by the reaction of some of the people involved in the situation, saying things like Pedrosa had just as good a shot as Nicky for the title, so that justified what he did and, hey, maybe it was Nicky's fault, the crash. Honestly I was sick to my stomach when I read that, because I felt that some people were trying to spin a great wrong into being just a mysterious incident where blame was shared by both riders. Give me a break.

Switching gears, I'd like discuss traction control in Superbike racing if I could. It's well-known that traction control is now legal here in the US, and I presume all of the teams are now using it.

As for me, I sort of wish that it had never been made legal, honestly. I wish the AMA had banned it. Because I guess you can call me a traditionalist as a racer—for me, the ultimate traction control should be in the rider's wrist. I think, since the dawn of bike racing, that control and that skill has determined the outcome of more races than anyone will ever really know.

Now that I have used traction control—legally, I might add—I think the way that this technology is going to influence motorcycle racing is to dumb it down to a degree. A lot more guys are going to be able to go faster with traction control on their bike than they ever would without it.

And it's going to really mean that you need to have the mapping in the control unit right in the race because, if you don't, you're going to be left for dead. It used to be that a rider could change his riding style if he ran into trouble on a conventional Superbike without traction control. I really suspect that those days will soon be in the past because, I think, if you have the wrong mapping, you're going to be able to ride to the limit of the mapping and if it's wrong, you are a rolling pylon. So those are my thoughts. But what do I know? I don't even have a Myspace page.

I was fortunate enough to see two of my favorite people this year. At the Honda dealer convention in October, I was able to finally see Ernesto Fonseca who Honda brought in for the event. Ernesto, unfortunately, was injured in a motocross crash this year, and is in a wheelchair now. The upside is that he seemed to really be doing well and is ready for the fight. I was so impressed by that. In addition, at the AMA banquet last month in Vegas, I was surprised to see Vincent Haskovec. He came over to see me and I enjoyed talking to him. He looked fantastic. Vincent is one in a million, and I was so happy to see him, not just to see him, but also to see him looking good and continuing to fight.

I think both Ernesto and Vincent epitomize courage. Life has dealt them a terrible blow but in the true nature of a racer, they refuse to give in or give up and continue to fight against something lesser people might see as insurmountable. That's the true measure of a person, I think. I find myself completely humbled by the courage and optimism that Vincent and Ernesto continue to show. Those guys are my heroes.

To close this out, I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year, especially the troops who are serving in distant lands and can't be with their families this year. I hope for peace in the future.

My fans, too, deserve a special shout out because you people are the best. I really appreciate your support because it's a powerful thing. When I walk out of the transporter and see that long line for Jake and I, it's really gratifying. Some of my fans have been with me for years and years—it's like a kid will come through the line and I'll say, 'Man, you've grown!' as I first met him when he was a tot. To everyone who has ever stood in line for me—thank you.

As for me, I'll be heading up to my parent's house in Montreal for the Christmas holiday. I guess I'm a traditionalist—I need the snow and cold for it to be a "real" Christmas. Being in Vegas at Christmas, with temps in the 70s and houses decorated with Christmas decorations, is too Twilight Zone for me. I'll spend some time up in Montreal, maybe play a little hockey, but I'll be back here by the end of the year.

Because, if there's one place you want to be on New Year's Eve, it's Vegas, baby.