20 years ago this week: Chevrolet, concerned that its local dealers were out of touch with the small car movement, dragged hundreds of its Southern California sales people to the Ontario Motor Speedway for a crash course in small cars. The salesmen most of whom admitted a preference for big cars test drove Chevettes as well as competing Japanese imports.

The Newsmaker: F.W. “Bill” Gay resigned as president of Summa Corp., the company founded by the late Howard Hughes to oversee his casino empire and other businesses. Summa Chairman William Lummis, a cousin of Hughes who was seen as the engineer of the ouster, said Gay would continue as chairman of Summa’s Hughes Airwest airline.

The Numbers: February 16, 1978

Dow Jones Industrial Average 753

New York Gold $179.70

40-channel CB radio $124.95

Electric typewriter $239.99