They called him “Ford’s off-road guy.” It was Bill who prototyped and tested truck components for Ford. He set up trucks for off-road competition and drove them; Bill once supervised a large Ford test lab in Southern California. Aside from making his name in racing and building fast sedans and off-road vehicles, he was also involved in midget racing and racing on the dry lakes. Additionally, he raced in the SCCA (and won a championship in 1952 with a Mercury flathead-powered Kurtis 500S) and crewed for cars at Indy.