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This is an inspirational story, a story of
high personal achievement through
brilliance, ingenuity and hard work. It
is a story heretofore told only in bits and
pieces because Bill Sadler was a rather
private man and never sought publicity. Bill
was only “OK” about having his biography
published, but he helped a lot with
information and photos. He passed away
before the book was published, but at least
he knew it would happen.
Bill Sadler split his career between 1)
designing, building and driving world class
sports racing cars, and 2) military aviation —
as Director of the Advanced Development
Laboratory of the General Dynamics
electronics division in San Diego, and, later
designing high-performance lightweight
military aircraft.
Bill Sadler dropped out of high school
because he was bored. But he eventually
attended university where he achieved
straight A’s and obtained a degree in only 27
months. Then Bill achieved a Masters Degree
at MIT in only two semesters.
Bill was a true engineering genius. His race cars were highly competitive as a result. And,
unlike many successful sports racing specials, Bill’s cars were great looking. Bill’s engineering
genius was demonstrated to me personally when he built a Mark III for Julian Majzub, at my
UK home in 2005. Julian was acquainted with a race car chassis design specialist and ordered
a “review” of Bill’s chassis. The specialist had said he never analyzed a race car chassis that
could not be improved with regard to stiffness and weight. After examining Bill’s chassis, the
specialist said, for the first time in his career, he found a chassis that could not be improved.
Bill’s was essentially a “one man band.” He did everything himself, and he did it all on a
shoestring budget. Bill was one of the first to design and build a competitive rear-engined
sports racing car. He built race winning Formula Juniors, and a Formula 5000 race car by
installing a Chevy V8 in a Formula Junior chassis — with no gearbox as such. It worked.
When Bill stayed at my UK home to build the Majzub Mark III (and a Mark III chassis not yet
turned into a car), I looked forward to spending time in conversation with him. Although I was
privileged to do this on occasion, Bill preferred to work, usually by himself, for long hours and
to be alone when not working. I did get Bill to tell me some of his stories from time to time. The
only other similar genius I have known (also stayed at my home from time to time) was Bill
Milliken, also of aviation and race car fame.
Dean Butler
February 2024
Foreword
ABOVE: Bill and Anne going
through photographs for the
book. (Sadler Family Collection)
OPPOSITE: Dean Butler in his
1935 supercharged, twin-cam
MG KN special. (Dean Butler
Collection)
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