Local sports writer is doing a biography on a Canadian pioneer racing legend, Bill Sadler. A real “Hot Rodder” of the Mickey Thompson era, Bill was born in St.Catherines, Ont. he quickly migrated from the drag strip to road course racing when Edenvale and Harewood Acres opened up in the mid 1950’s.
His family ran a fabricating shop that manufactured outdoor garden furniture, so he had access to lots of great equipment and material! His first self designed and built race car was a Sadler Formula Junior (later known as the Sadler Mk.1). Powered by a 948cc BMC motor, all the parts including gearbox, 7”drum brakes, and rear axle, came from early Morris Minors. Bill got so many requests he built several more. Perhaps as many as a dozen. After that he was famous for the “Formula Ferocious” a single seater, rear engined rocket ship, powered by a 350 Chevy V8, no transmission, direct drive to a solid rear axle! The Mk5.was built long before McLarens, Chaparrals, or the Penske built “Zerex Special”. Sadler built a lovely sports racer (looked a bit like a Lotus17) and stuffed in another Chevy V8. But this time it had Hilborn fuel injection and full deDion rear suspension (google it). The centre diff (again no transmission) was a quick change circle track unit that Bill modified to give two speeds. He called them “Fast” and “ Stupid”. This car was so successful he took it to Europe for a season! Both the V8 cars were restored by Canadian Jack Boxtrom and are still around. A few of the early Juniors survived as well
Today, the author asked me if I had any Sadler pictures. I found this, my first race car, I was 16 years old, buddy and I spent $250 each, included a trailer! After lots of work, off to Racing School, June of 1970. I met Bill Sadler at the races in 1995 and next day took this photo along to get him to sign it. Like many talented engineers, he lived and worked (NASA) in the USA for much of his life. He passed away in 2022.
