Five-time Daytona 200 winner Miguel DuHamel is ready to hit the high banks of Daytona. But first, a fish tale. image by brian j nelson

If it snows at Daytona, we are so dialed.

Pre-season testing this year has been interesting to say the least for Team Honda. We did a test at California Speedway which was wet and cold, before that we were at Vegas and it was snowing.

One thing that has occurred to me is that we might want to consider renting the whole series out as portable rain-making tent show. Get all the teams together and truck on out to Nebraska or Kansas is the middle of summer when it's dry and dusty, set up the tents and equipment, prepare to test and then just wait for the cold weather or rain to set in. It's been working like a charm thus far.

At the first test at Fontana I wanted to wear my ventilated Joe Rocket leathers because Honda was shooting press kit materials, but if I had, it was so cold that I may have died of hypothermia. You know it's cold when you huddle up against the tire-warmer.

People are always telling me that I should somehow be used to the cold weather because I'm Canadian. Like I walked around my whole life up in Montreal wearing a coonskin cap and snowshoes, killing elk with spears for food. Man, I'm a DuHamel; we raced minibikes in my dad's basement all winter long. While I was well-acclimated to the cold at one time, people, I have lived in southern California, Florida and Vegas for the last 15 years. My immunity to the cold has diminished somewhat.

Daytona is right around the corner and I'm hoping for really good results in the Daytona 200. I think we have a really good shot at success. We have the new 2007 CBR600RR as our weapon and it's everything the older version was—and more. More power, less weight and I think it puts us in a good position to win the Daytona 200 again. The 600 has been so good in pre-season testing and shown such promise that it really motivates you to get up earlier in the morning, to hit the gym and do all your work. I have a really powerful crew behind me for 2007 at Honda, everyone is back and working hard and now with Canadian Jon Cornwell as my new Ohlins suspension technician. While my 2007 CBR1000RR Superbike has just a few changes for this season, I'm really happy with it.

I had a really relaxing off-season this year. Spent a lot of time working out and also hanging out with my friend, PGA golfer Bob May. We played a lot of golf together and hit a round at Torrey Pines which he unfortunately didn't make the cut; he's recovering from back surgery but we still enjoyed ourselves. We played some golf and then had lunch with Tiger Woods. He was pretty quiet, but I could tell it was an honor for him to be sitting that close to me. Joking!

On to Daytona. People always ask me what my biggest memory of Daytona is. I think from my perspective most of the memories I have of Daytona are, of course, very special. I've won the race a few times and Daytona was the scene of my second-ever Superbike win, so there have been some special moments, no doubt about it. Beating Scott Russell in '97, winning the 200 with a still-broken leg in 1999, all good times. But the thing I really associate with Daytona itself isn't racing or winning at all.

It's sharks.

I just sat there, taking it all in. I remember thinking to myself, 'I am never going to fool around at the racetrack again'.

See, one of the first times my family went to Daytona to watch my dad race, my mom found me and my brother and sister to be somewhat of a handful at the track while my dad was out racing. We were running around and she couldn't find us all the time and was worried we'd get hurt or in trouble, so she decided it would be a great idea if we go to a movie. Take the kids to a movie, sounds pretty harmless, eh? She loads us kids up and takes us to a local Daytona theater to see a movie. This was back when theaters had only one screen and the only movie playing was some sea-based film. It really didn't matter to my mom what movie was playing. When you have three kids you need to contain, you find a theater and go in. It was some kind of a boat movie, she thought. Like 10,000 Leagues Under the Sea, or something. Only it's not.

It's Jaws.

I'm like eight years old. We sit down with some popcorn, maybe some Sugar Babies, start watching the film. It didn't take too long for just horrific things to start happening and for me to become seriously freaked out by the movie. Saying my eyes were as big as saucers doesn't do it justice—my eyes were bigger than my head after a few scenes of Jaws. This giant white menace, all teeth, attacking people, killing people. The little boy gets eaten on the air-mattress, the guy's head pops out of the sunken boat, the bitten-off leg floats slowly to the bottom, shoe still attached. I am sitting there watching this, eight years old, terrified.

And if the movie wasn't bad enough, the reaction of the people in the theater was something else. They acted as if they were about two clicks away from the end of the world as we know it. People were screaming, shrieking, tossing popcorn into the air. People were walking out of the theater, almost crying.

I just sat there, taking it all in. I remember thinking to myself, 'I am never going to fool around at the racetrack again'.

People always ask me what my biggest Daytona memory is and when I say "a giant shark" they give me an odd look.

Time for me to get on a plane and fly to Daytona. I wish everyone well and for safe racing at Daytona.

Miguel