Page 4 - The Bill Sadler Story sample pages
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FAST FASTER FASTEST
A snapshot of an important era
in motorsport history
William George Sadler: September 3, 1931 - April 5, 2022
The fertile mind of Bill Sadler created not only some of the fastest and forward-thinking
race cars ever in North America, but also innovative aircraft and other devices. In the
field of motor racing, he set his competitors on their ears with the Sadler Mark I to the
Mark V series of race cars. After leaving the auto racing world, Bill was also responsible for
attention-grabbing aircraft and super-secret devices.
In 1962, Bill enrolled at Tri-State University in Angola, Indiana in an engineering program
which he completed in two years. His exceptional progress at Tri-State netted him a full
scholarship at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from which school he graduated with a
master’s degree in Electronic Engineering and landed a job at General Dynamics. From there,
Sadler created a company building drones and light aircraft as well as the Piranha prototype
light ground attack airplane for the Turkish air force.
Bill returned to racing in 1997-1998 in a Sadler Mark III constructed from bits and pieces he
had lying around his garage. I had the opportunity to observe Bill’s driving skills as a passenger
aboard the Mark II at the 2005 Monterey Historics when we did laps around the Laguna Seca
racetrack. The circuits were supposed to be part of a parade lap event, but Bill took the
opportunity to put in a series of fast sprints!
In 1993, Bill was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame. His citation from the
book, The Honourable Members of the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame, read:
“Possibly Canada’s most successful race car builder, Bill Sadler earned a place in
motorsport history with the cars he designed and built. His most successful racers
were the Comstock Sadlers he built in 1961. He won against some of the great
European race cars of the day. Although ahead of their time, the Sadlers had a
profound effect on the future of Group 7 and Can-Am cars.”
John R. Wright
February 2024
Bill in his first race car, the
Jowett Javelin-powered
Sadler Mark I. (Sadler Family
Collection)
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