1977

Another Letter from Mom

The day after Valentine’s Day Mom wrote me a letter updating me about the family; Brenda and Tom were coming down later in February, and there would be a family potluck supper Saturday, February 26th at Cork and Connie’s. (I should come) She made me feel guilty about Valentine’s Day in a way mothers can only do saying,

“I thought sure you’d call me, it was Valentine’s Day yesterday, or at least send me a card! Son, remember your obligations to your old mom! (You even forgot my birthday, Jan 16th.)  Just because you’re not at home I still want to know what you’re doing.”

I wrote back the next day, 

(See more about the drafting pens in my doodles)

In the letter I wrote about my trip to the 24 hours of Daytona race.  The race was a lot of fun, staying in the infield we would sit on top of my Chevy van and could see the cars most all the way around the racetrack. I did manage to get a few short naps in during the 24 hours but with the sound of the cars being so loud I didn’t get much sleep.  The actor Paul Newman was one of the three drivers on a team driving a Ferrari 365 GTB/4 car and the announcer would announce when the car pulled into the pit and Newman took over driving. Their Ferrari came in 5th place.  Porsche dominated the race winning ten of the top 12 places.  The other non-Porsche besides Newman’s Ferrari was a Chevrolet Corvette.  I had never been to such a race before and found it interesting that there were so many different types of cars racing at the same time.  Chevrolet had a good showing with over a dozen Corvettes,  several Chevy Camaro’s, my favorite since it was my first car.  There was an AMC Gremlin and an AMC Javelin which I found amusing as I never thought of them as race cars. One car that caught my attention was a single Lotus Europa. A few years later I would buy a Lotus Elan.