John Sheppard: A Giant of Australian Racing Dies

The Auto Action family is sad to report the passing of John Robert Sheppard, a true gentleman and an icon of the motorsport industry.

On the 1979 Bathurst 1000 podium, Holden Dealer Team manager John Sheppard talks with Channel Seven’s Evan Green after the dominant win by Peter Brock and Jim Richards in the MHDT Torana A9X. A victory by over six laps and a lap record on the final lap delivered the ultimate victory for Sheppo and his team.

‘Sheppo’, who strode across the top of Australian Motor Racing for over 50 years, and achieved wins with all of the greats, died in Melbourne on the 26th July 2025, aged 89 Years.

John ‘Sheppo’ Sheppard was born in Brisbane in 1935 to father Reg and mother Lucy and followed his older brother Len.

It wasn’t long before the family moved to Sydney. His father, Reg, was an acclaimed pilot and started flying all types of RAAF planes. After leaving the RAAF, he joined Qantas in 1935 and served as one of the youngest Qantas Empire Airways flying-boat Commanders. Captain Sheppard flew the England-Australia route, with the flying boats based at Rose Bay, where the family lived nearby.

At the time of Reg’s death in October 1939, he was only 33 and had accumulated a record of over 5,600 flying hours.

When World War II broke out and the Japanese attacked Sydney Harbour with midget submarines, Lucy decided to leave Sydney and took her two young sons, Len and John to Melbourne’s inner north, where there was family support to help her raise her small family.

Sheppo met his wife of over 63 years, Eileen O’Toole, in 1956. They married shortly thereafter in 1957. Eileen died in 2021. The couple has three daughters, Julie, Susan, and Joanne, 12 grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

A life of motorsport begins

Sheppard began his life in cars as an apprentice mechanic in one of Stan Jones’ – father of 1980 F1 World Champ Alan – car dealerships before crossing the Yarra to Peter ‘Skinny’ Manton’s. By then, he had fettled George Spanos’ Riley 2½ racer.

John Sheppard cut his motorsport teeth working with Peter Manton and racer/mechanic Otto Stone. Peter ‘Skinny’ Manton seen here at Calder Park in 1962

At Manton’s Monaro Motors he looked after Skinny’s Morris Minor, Major, Elfin Streamliner and the first of Skinny’s legendary series of giant-killing Minis. Manton and racer/mechanic Otto Stone instilled in John the need for outstanding car presentation, preparation and attention to detail.

This approach had enormous religious fervour for Sheppard, who followed that dictum without fear or favour throughout his career. John was a my-way-or-the-highway kinda-guy, generating vast success for those prepared to go along for the ride, his way…

Tasmanians John and Gavin Youl inherited the family farm, Symmons Plains. However, for several years, John Youl was a Top 5 Gold Star Cooper racer before the brothers transitioned to full-time farming, leaving the track of the same name as their legacy. Sheppo would fettle the Youl’s race cars during their many visits to the mainland.

Go Go Geoghegans

John met Tom Geoghegan through the Youls and was offered a full time job. John and Eileen packed up the family and moved to Sydney. Sheppo prepared their cars in the Geoghegan’s workshop in Sydney, and looked after Ian ‘Pete’ and Leo’s Lotus racing and sports cars, as well as their Ford tourers, from 1963 to 1969.

Pete ‘Ian’ Geoghegan three wheels his Lotus Cortina at Catalina Park, in the Blue Mountains 1964-Sheppo worked with the Geoghegan’s to achieve many race and championship wins

Pete and John won the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) with Sheppo-built cars from 1964-69: a Cortina GT and a pair of legendary, crowd-pulling, spectacular Mustangs. Others spent more money, but Sheppard’s ongoing engineering, modifications and preparation, plus Big Pete’s driving, did the rest.

Proving he wasn’t a one-trick pony, John evolved Leo’s ex-Jim Clark 1966 Lotus 39 Climax Tasman car into a Repco-V8 powered and wing-equipped machine that gave nothing away to the Grand Prix winning Lotus 49s of Clark and Graham Hill that were garaged at Geoghegan’s during the Tasman Cup.

Such was the success of the Geoghegan and Sheppard partnership, and the high regard that Sheppard was held in by the family, that they presented him with a large silver trophy that read:

‘Presented to John Sheppard for his successful efforts in preparing our cars in 1963 – By Tom, Leo & Ian.

1963 – 73 Starts, 53 Wins, 9 Seconds 5 Thirds.’

A return to Melbourne and Norm’s Monaro’s

When the highly successful relationship with the Geoghegans came to an end, Sheppo spent a stint at Ron Hodgson Motors in Parramatta, where part of his duties included preparing Johnny Stewart’s Coventry Climax-powered speedcar, which Hodgson supported.

Norm Beechey took 13 straight wins in the Monaro 327.

It was a challenge, and the combination delivered solid results, but by his admission, the speedway scene wasn’t for him, and it was not long before the family returned to Melbourne to help look after Norm Beechey‘s new Holden Monaro GTS 327.

Norm had been struggling to get the best out of the new Monaro. Sheppo took what had been a fairly unreliable car, made some adjustments, and tuned it into a reliable and consistent race winner. It was another winning combination, but there was one too many bulls in that paddock despite Sheppo’s score of 13 straight wins in the Monaro’s.

“It was satisfying, but sometimes a difficult place to be,” he told Auto Action, “We had proved a point, but I sometimes found the relationship a bit one-sided and decided it was time to do something else.”

Bob Jane Racing

Bob Jane Racing was only a few streets away from Beechey’s, and Jane was a big spender, getting very ordinary results.

John Sheppard built the Bob Jane Racing Holden Torana GTR XU-1 Repco-Brabham 4.4-litre V8 in his garage at home. Seen here at Calder Bob is on his way to another win.

When Sheppard replaced John Sawyer as head of his Racing Division, the results followed instantly: 1970-71 ATCCs for Bob in his legendary Chev Camaro ZL1, 1971-72 Australian Sports Car Championships for John Harvey in a McLaren M6B Repco-Brabham 5-litre V8.

Not to forget the Brabham BT36 Waggott 2-litre and F5000 Bowin P8 Repco-Holden, or the build and race wins of the team’s Holden Monaro GTS350.

One of the Sheppard highlight builds was the engineering-erotic Holden Torana GTR XU-1 Repco-Brabham 4.4-litre V8, which was built in his garage at home away from prying eyes.

These Sheppo-built Bob Jane race cars are on any best-of list from any knowledgeable enthusiasts of the era.

But the relationship ended.

“I fell out with Bob at the end of 1972, as you inevitably did. He was a difficult man. I eventually told him to stick it up his arse. I’d just had enough.”

Monaro Motors and another Monaro

Jane and Sheppo later reconciled in the Calder Thunderdome era, but Sheppard initially went out on his own in Grant Street, South Melbourne, renting the old Monaro Motors premises and setting up John Sheppard Automotive/Monaro Motors to do both general mechanical and race preparation work.

Big Ian ‘Pete’ Geoghegan, driving the John Sheppard built-Laurie O’Neill owned Monaro Sports Sedan, in a full power slide off the bowl at Adelaide International Raceway.

It was at this time that one of his long-time trusted employees, who became a lifelong friend, Neil ‘Part’ Burns, joined with Sheppo at Monaro Motors. ‘Part’ followed Sheppard to the HDT and later became a key part of the Brock and Perkins organisations.

With sports sedans booming, Sheppard was approached by Laurie O’Neill to build a more sophisticated Holden Monaro GTS350 for Pete Geoghegan to drive. The wonderfully built car was on the money from the word go. The ‘Old Firm’ was back together for a while, but Geoghegan lost interest when his Sydney mechanics didn’t seem up to the task of getting the best from the Craven Mild Monaro crowd pleaser.

Sheppard’s feedback and advice as well as his thoughts on the sport were always sought out, Sheppo was always keen to deliver his thoughts on things to do with the sport and was an Auto Action columnist for many years. His column ‘Sheppards Pie’ was always an interesting and insightful read.

Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Maestro

When Holden sought a replacement for the legendary Harry Firth, it was the highly regarded, successful and strategic John Sheppard they turned to to take over the high-profile team.

The Holden Dealer team dominated touring car racing under John Sheppards management. The Sandown 500 in 1978 was another classic win with Peter Brock and John Harvey take a memorable 1-2

It was Sheppo’s usual mix of high-class presentation, preparation and strategic skills on display in the process of winning the 1978 ATCC, Sandown 400 and Bathurst 1000. The revised camp included HDT returnee Peter Brock, John Harvey, Jim Richards and Charlie O’Brien. In ’79, Ron Harrop and Wayne Negus joined the team for the enduros. WA-based Negus was also part of a historic 1-2-3 finish for the HDT at the ATCC round at Wanneroo in 1978.

Continuing, there was much more success in 1979 – With repeat wins at Sandown and Bathurst, the latter a record-setting, crushing win. The final result delivered a six-lap win, with Brock breaking the lap record on the final lap of the race.

John Sheppard and the 1978 Holden Dealer Team lineup. The enduro drivers for 1978 included Jim Richards and Charlie O’Brien.

This was a most amazing and successful period for the Sheppard-led Holden Dealer Team, and with all that could seemingly be achieved at the time, he moved on.

At the end of 1979, it was GMH’s favoured son and champion driver, Peter Brock, who took over ownership of the team, continuing the success for HDT after the foundations of a highly professional team were laid by Sheppard’s attention to detail and focus.

GMH and Volvos

With his impeccable GMH connections, overseeing the Director’s special cars, and handling contract assembly work on the L34. His workshop served as the drop-off point for the covert supply of racing parts to teams, despite GM’s global no-racing policy.

Sheppo tried hard to manage the very talented Robbie Francevic and they ultimately delivered the team an Australian Touring Car Championship win. Francevic in his Volvo 240T, leads Volvo Dealer Team-team mate John Bowe during the 1986 Winton ATCC round

After his successful stint at the HDT, John took a regular job at GMH for a while, heading up the Fishermans Bend service garage, where he looked after the company’s and press cars.

Sheppard returned to racing in 1986 with the Volvo Dealer Team with a package comprising the unlikely Volvo 240T and Kiwi Robbie Francevic, who was both talented and troublesome in equally large doses.

When Sheppo built a 240T for John Bowe, it went very quickly, and the troubles multiplied to such an extent that John fired Francevic on the eve of the Sandown 400. Despite that, Robbie won the ATCC before Volvo withdrew from racing globally.

Back with Bob Jane and building NASCARs

When Bob Jane decided to build the Calder Park Thunderdome and bring NASCAR to Australia, he called on Sheppo to help out.

When Bob Jane decided to build the amazing Thunderdome and introduce NASCAR racing to Australia he called on John Sheppard to help out. Sheppo built some 20 NASCARs for competition. Not many got to see action as Bob set the selling price way to high. Here we see Bob Jane and some of the AUSCAR-NASCAR’s built on the Thunderdome.

The return to the Bob Jane fold resulted in the build of 20 beautiful NASCARS in the late 1980s. Sheppard took one of the locally built NASCARs to Charlotte for Alan Grice to race. NASCAR was a significant category of racing in Australia for a few years, and many teams purchased American-sourced cars. Twelve of the Sheppo-built NASCARs proved unsaleable because of the ridiculous price Jane put on the cars, and again, the relationship hit the rocks.

At this time, Sheppo set up his workshop in Tullamarine. The facility was complete with an engine dyno, and under his supervision, it was used by many of the top engine builders of the time. The business was later sold to long-time racer Gene Cook. During this period, he built a massive motorhome – think Winnebago. The intention was for Eileen and him to tour the country.

John then jumped the fence from competitor to regulator in his role as Technical Director of TEGA in 1998-99.

Historic Racer and Restorer

Sheppo’s ability to restore and create historic racing cars was unmatched. His long-time membership of the Victorian Historic Racing Register kept him busy and engaged with the sport. With his membership of the VHRR, he was kept active, participating in club events and meet-ups with his many motorsport friends right up until his recent illness.

The restoration Maestro at work. Sheppo is seen here restoring his Lotus 23 Lotus-Ford that he would use in competition – Sheppard Archiv

When semi-retirement beckoned, it was typically productive. Sheppo rounded up a Lotus 22 Ford and a Lotus 23 Ford sports racer, cars of the type he had looked after for the Geoghegans in the mid-1960s, and restored and competed in them as historic racing took off in the late 1980s.

And yes, you could eat your dinner off the cam-covers, such was the standard of preparation.

Of Maybach’s and a Maserati 300s

More impressive was the scratch-built reproduction of Maybach 2, Stan Jones’ six-cylinder monoposto racer built by Charlie Dean and his team at Repco Research in early 1954. It was staggering in its execution and exactness to the specs of the original car that fell apart under Jones en route to a seemingly certain 1954 Australian Grand Prix win at Southport.

John Sheppard behind the wheel of one of his wonderful creations-the scratch-built reproduction of Maybach 2

Little known is that John also rebuilt a mid-1950s Maserati 300S (chassis 3074) in his home garage with assistance from a select bunch of artisans, selling the exotic 3-litre DOHC, six-cylinder Le Mans sports racer to wealthy Sydneysider Kerry Manolas before ‘having a good go’ in it himself.

Australian Motorsport Icon – CAMS Service Award and Australian Sports Medal

Sheppard also involved himself in the administration and management of the sport in several roles with CAMS and the historic motorsport movement, his contributions recognised with a CAMS Service Award in 1994.

In 2000, Sheppard was awarded the Australian Sports Medal in recognition of his services to motorsport by the Governor-General of Australia, Sir William Deane.

The citation read:

‘The Australian Sports Medal is being awarded during the year 2000 to commemorate Australian sporting achievement and has been established as a commemorative award within the Australian honours system. The medal has been created to recognise the contributions of both current and former sports participants and for those who have provided support services to sport. The medal is a unique way for Australia to recognise the wide-ranging efforts of those who have made Australia a great sporting nation.’

‘The Governor-General authorises all awards within the Australian honours system and nominations for the Australian Sports Medal have been recommended by the Prime Minister; Federal, State and Territory sports ministers; Senators; Members of the House of Representatives; or peak sports bodies recognised by the Australian Sports Commission.’

Retirement… Not really

A few years ago, a project of immense proportions beckoned again in his garage at home in Strathmore, and he took on the build of a recreation of one of his greatest race car builds, the Bob Jane Racing Holden Torana GTR XU-1 Repco-Brabham 4.4-litre V8.

John Sheppard inspects the restoration of the mighty Monaro he built for Laurie O’Neill. Big Pete Geoghagan would race the car.

In typical Sheppo style, he took on the project with determination and enthusiasm, assembling much of the major components. He began modifying the Torana chassis and had most of the parts to build a new Repco-Brabham V8 engine. However, as the project grew beyond his late eighties capabilities, he passed it on to another owner to complete.

In very recent times, John fettled a lovely MG and an Ariel Square Four motorcycle in his home garage. I was fortunate enough to get to know him well over the past five years, working on various articles and absorbing his extensive knowledge of the strategic and detailed aspects of car design, build, preparation, and development.

Meeting a legend-Sheppo was very pleased and proud to meet the great man of motorsport, Juan Manuel Fangio when he visited Australia in September 1978 at Sandown.

We caught up on 1 May for a long chat and lunch. He was sharp as a tack and in great form; the subject that day was Pete’s Monaro sports sedan, a feature published in Auto Action Premium magazine #1906.

John took a turn at a function at ‘The Captain’ Peter Janson’s shortly after, and was in and out of care since then, surrounded by friends and his family, including daughters, Julie, Susan, and Joanne. He died, aged 89, on July 26.

All of the team at Auto Action extend our deepest condolences to John’s very close family, his army of friends, and admirers, of which there are very many.

MAIN IMAGE: John with his Great Grandson Ollie, inspecting the restored HJ/HQ Monaro Sports Sedan he built for Laurie O’Neill.

An extended feature will be published in the August issue of Auto Action Premium Magazine.

Images: Sheppard Family Collection, Auto Action Archives, autopics.com.au, Ian Smith, Primotipo.com.au and Auto Action photographers.