Dale Willey’s been busy in Las Vegas the past few days, talking about cars with the head of Honda Motor Co.’s U.S. operations, hearing from former White House chief of staff Andy Card, trading an air punch or two with Sugar Ray Leonard, and otherwise mingling with another 30,000 people gathered for the National Automobile Dealers Association’s annual meeting.

He’s also squeezing in some practice for himself.

“I need a lot of speech rehearsal, let me tell you,” Willey said, laughing.

Willey’s speech Monday afternoon – launching his year-long term as NADA chairman – will be a career pinnacle for a man who bought into the Lawrence market in 1970, selling Pontiacs and Cadillacs in downtown Lawrence.

Now, as the owner of Dale Willey Automotive – a growing dealership for new Pontiac, GMC, Buick and Cadillac vehicles, plus used cars, at 2840 Iowa – Willey finds himself leading an organization that represents more than 19,700 new car and truck dealers with more than 43,000 separate franchises and 2005 sales of

$699 billion.

The organization’s goal for 2007 is clear, Willey says: Boost dealer profitability.

“A lot of things we teach at NADA are processes that are beneficial to the consumer,” Willey said. “Anytime the consumer comes out feeling good about their experience, about their purchase, that’s good for business. And they will go back and repeat and buy at that particular location. And that’s the bottom line.”

Helping drive such efforts will be 48 educational programs conducted during the annual meeting at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The programs come on top of many more resources available to dealers looking to improve efficiencies in the shop, the layout of a showroom or anything else that might connect with customers, squeeze inefficiencies from operations or improve professionalism on site.

“It could be the difference between staying in business and going out of business, if you don’t take advantage of the educational opportunities,” said Willey, who has served as chairman of NADA’s dealer operations efforts, among others. “NADA’s just got so many resources available for dealers – and they’re designed by dealers for dealers, so there’s not a lot of fluff in it. It’s pretty much straightforward.”

Another focus of Willey’s term will be convincing Congress to pass a “total loss disclosure” bill, legislation that would require every vehicle totaled out by an insurance company – whether it’s after an accident, fire, flood or anything else – to report the vehicle’s pertinent information into a national database.

With more than 5 million vehicles being totaled each year, he said, it’s essential that dealers and consumers alike have access to information – free of charge – that could mean the difference between buying a usable preowned vehicle or getting stuck with a lemon.

“There would be no government agency required to handle it or set it up or process this,” Willey says. “The framework is already there. We just need to have insurance companies report it.”

Once the speech is complete, Willey will have a year to do his part leading the association representing an industry that has meant so much to him and his family.

“My wife told me, ‘If you can get through this week, you can get through anything,’ ” Willey said last week in Las Vegas, scrambling to his hotel for meetings. “It’s quite an honor.”