It would be easy to label Terry Shiel an ‘Amaroo specialist’ – one of those Sydney-based weekend warriors who managed to punch above their weight as they harried the big boys on the now sadly defunct 1.9km track north-west of Sydney. However, that would be to sell the quietly spoken Shiel way short. Sure, like fellow Emerald City racers Terry Finnigan, Steve Masterton and the late Barry Jones, he was always able to bring his ‘A’ game to Amaroo, but he was naturally quick everywhere.
Like Finnigan and Jones, Shiel started out in the competitive NSW Mini scene, eventually winning the state series in 1974. Openwheelers beckoned, but despite having the ideal physique for single seaters, they didn’t gel with him. Instead, he saw his future in class touring cars that found a home at Amaroo in the popular 3-litre series of the late 1970s. His Mazda RX3 was competitive, but it would be an RX7 and the AMSCAR series for which he would be best remembered. He won the series in 1983 but was then gone – the sponsorship had evaporated.
Undeterred, Shiel reinvented himself as a co-driving gun for hire. Stints with the factory Nissan and Mitsubishi team plus the all-conquering Dick Johnson Racing during the Group A era netted him four top-10 Bathurst finishes. He was the ultimate team player, being able to match the pace of the main drivers and bring it home in one piece. Now retired and living in Perth, AMC dropped him a line recently for this Muscle Man profile.
Early days
“I was born in Whyalla in 1950. My mother was only 16 at the time so I was adopted after a few months to a Sydney couple, the Shiels,” Shiel reflects to AMC. “My adopted parents were the greatest two people you could have. Mum passed away when I was four and my dad brought me up until he passed away when I was 16. They already had nine kids of their own. We lived in Lidcombe and at 16 I moved in with my eldest sister Beryl and her husband Bob at Ryde, renting the back room for a long time.”
The interest in all things automotive struck Terry at an early age. “My brothers Billy and Peter were into motorsport. They had a couple of friends involved in club motorsport and we would go to the speedway and Oran Park and Catalina. I was the pit pest! Peter was in the Australian Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) but didn’t drive. All I ever wanted to do during my school days involved motor racing.”
Shiel left school at 15 and started working at brother Peter’s BP North Ryde service station. “I bought my first Mini to race at 19. It was a Morris 850 with an 1100cc motor and drum brakes all round! I tried to develop the 850, but I should have bought a better car. But I thought I knew better. I put a Cooper S engine in it and disc brakes, but I was chasing my tail. It took me a year or two to develop it.”
By this time he was in partnership with Peter at
