Photo: Jim Williams

VIR Gold Cup Vintage Races (2003) – Bill Sadler to be Honored

Virginia International Raceway has announced that Canadian racing pioneer Bill Sadler will be a guest of honor at this yearโ€™s Gold Cup Historics to be run June 5-8.

Sadler started racing in 1954 with his first special that featured a home- built frame and flat-4 Jowett Jupiter engine. Over the following years, Sadler graduated to larger and larger displacement engines: a 2-liter Triumph motor, with his own fuel-injection system, and later a Chevy V8-powered car known as the Sadler Mk I. Sadler drove his highly competitive Mk I to numerous victories including a win in the 1958 Watkins Glen Classic, which enabled Sadler to acquire a sponsor and start the Sadler Car Company in Ontario, Canada. Sadler went on to build a second-generation, front-engine special, the Mk II as well as a mid-engined sports racer, the MkV, and even a Formula Junior.

Sadler will mark his 50th anniversary in motorsport when he races his Mk II at VIR as part of the Gold Cupโ€™s salute to โ€œRoad Racing Specials.โ€ For more information call VIR at (513) 741-9121.