Holden Dealer Team days

When Holden withdrew from racing at the end of 1979, Sheppard intended continuing, but couldn’t get a commitment from his star driver and eventually – as he’d done many times before in his career – decided to simply walk away. He sold the team to Brock fo

Harry Firth had been convinced to retire at the end of 1977, and Sheppard – who describes Firth’s presentation as “a disgrace for a factory team” – was selected by Holden to take over. He found new premises in North Melbourne and took the sport to new levels of presentation

“A few people had expressed an interest – Colin Bond, me and Frank Gardner – and when nothing had happened towards the end of the year I rang the Holden chairman and told him you couldn’t expect a new team to start preparing in February. They had to make a decision, and it all just happened. It was a handshake deal, which was good enough for me.”

Holden also signed Peter Brock to return to HDT and provided the Marlboro sponsorship. Sheppard installed his dyno and brought with him engine builder Neil Burns. Holden supplied countless parts, paperwork and homologation. “If we wanted something to happen, it happened. So much stuff would just arrive.”

Sheppo and the crew prepared the two existing Firth A9Xs – a decent four-door and