LIVING LEGENDS – JOHN SHEPPARD
In the 1960s and ’70s, two high-profile men were synonymous among a small group of professionals running racing teams successfully: Harry Firth and John Sheppard.
They were behind the fame of big names like Ian Geoghegan, Bob Jane, Colin Bond and Peter Brock.
Firth, a driver/manager, and Sheppard, a mechanic/manager, couldn’t have been more different. The former was autocratic and untidy; the latter was detail-driven, priding presentation as much as results.
Ironically, their disparate approaches led to them crossing over as bosses of the Holden Dealer Team, the running of which Sheppard took over from Firth in 1978.
Sheppard, already well-established as a racing guru with a penchant for perfection, became the model of a modern team manager. Unlike Firth’s grubby operation, the cars he prepared were pristine and mechanically meticulous, and his drivers organised rather than terrorised.
‘Sheppo’, now 85, turned his skill on the spanners into racing success that enhanced the ability – and achievements – of several legendary drivers. His standard of car preparation and presentation set the mark for today’s Supercars teams.
In his day, he was uncompromising and demanding. He changed teams and projects regularly, falling out with those he had guided to success. It was his way or the highway.
In the modern parlance, he was a combination of crew chief and team manager, and later, team manager/team principal.
GEOGHEGAN CONNECTION
Sheppard guided Gavin Youl to second in the 1962 Formula Junior championship at Catalina Park, Katoomba, behind Frank Matich, attracting the attention of Team Total patriarch Tom Geoghegan.
He ran his sons Ian and Leo in touring cars, sports cars and single seaters out of the family’s Parramatta Road car dealership.
“When the Youl brothers used to come over, I used to work on their cars because they were too mean to pay for the travel for a mechanic,” Sheppo recalls. “I went up to Catalina Park with Gavin Youl for the Formula Junior championship and that’s where I met the Geoghegans.
“They were desperate for someone to get their cars going properly and they offered me a job. Tom, being Tom, said to me “I’ll get you to work on the used cars for a while”. I said “No, you won’t”.
“Fair enough, he wanted to know if I knew which end of a spanner to use, but I wasn’t having that. So I got the job on the race team and off we went.”
Living Legends – John Sheppard
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Sheppard and Ian ‘Pete’ Geoghegan went on to dominate the Australian touring car championship, winning five titles from 1964-69. The first was with a Cortina GT at (long defunct) Lowood in Queensland, then successive crowns from ’66-69 in Sheppo-engineered Mustangs.
The first Total-backed Shelby Mustang won a world record 59 races from as many starts in ’66/67, before being replaced by the more famous Castrol GTA Mustang in ’68.
Sheppo remembers the Geoghegan operation being sophisticated, aided by Pete – nicknamed after popular comic character ‘Black Pete’ – being as calculating as he was gifted as a driver.
“Their attitude was – and it turned out to be a good attitude – that you got a car and you pulled it to bits and put it back together properly,” he said. “They had a guy whose background was crack testing in the aviation industry and he taught me a lot about thorough preparation.”
NORM STORM
Friction with old Tom and his growing family led to him leaving the Geoghegans early in ’69, returning to Melbourne. There was a brief stint with Beechey, which ended predictably in a clash of strong temperaments over the configuration of the Melbourne showman’s HK Monaro GT327.
“I just couldn’t believe what he was like,” Sheppo said, shaking his head. “He just loved horsepower, even if it caused wheelspin everywhere. ‘Oh, no, you can’t have 30 less horsepower,’ he said, even when you showed him the car would go quicker with less power and better response.
“He just wouldn’t listen and I gave up.”
RUNNING BOB JANE RACING
Sheppard then joined Bob Jane’s Southern Motors Holden dealership chain as service manager, inevitably leading him to replace John Sawyer as team manager of Bob Jane Racing
But for dealing with the capricious car and tyre mogul, it was a dream assignment. Jane fielded a big-budget operation running an exotic line-up of Sebring Red (aka orange) racers.
In 1971, his racing fleet was the gorgeous McLaren M6B-Repco, Brabham BT36-Waggot, Repco-Torana sports sedan – wielded effectively by staff driver John Harvey – and Chev Camaro ZL1 427 and Monaro GTS350 improved production touring cars.
“Bob called me into his office one day, and he had John Harvey with him, and he said “What’s wrong with my racing division?” Sheppo recalled. “And I said “You know what’s wrong with your racing division” and he replied “Yes, but I want you to tell me”.
Once Sheppard took over the operation, run out of an impressively equipped workshop in the inner northern Melbourne suburb of Brunswick, the wins followed, culminating in Jane securing the ’71 ATCC in the big-block Camaro, which Sheppo now admits shamelessly exploited ill-defined rules.
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