TERRY Roche expects to catch up with plenty of old mates when he returns to Warwick to watch a race named in his honour at the Repco meeting at Allman Park on August 20.

After leaving school, Terry worked in the bush with horses and cattle before joining Main Roads.

Then a job came up at Discount Parts and Service, in Fitzroy St in 1966 and he started a 44-year career in the automotive industry.

A year after he started, Repco took over Discount Parts and Service.

He was appointed Warwick branch manager in 1973, a position he held until he was appointed manager at Coolangatta in 1977.

Terry was subsequently manager at Labrador, Southport and Burleigh branches and Coolangatta again before becoming accounts manager for the company for the northern end of the Gold Coast.

He and wife Christine moved to Ballina and he worked at Byron Bay, Ballina and Lismore branches until he retired on December 13, 2010.

Terry was approached last week about allowing the company to call a race after him in recognition of his long career with Repco.

“It is a privilege that Repco has wanted to call a race after me in my retirement,” he said.

He and his wife will be accompanied to Warwick by his sister Mavis Host and her husband Colin, who now live in Brisbane.

Terry said he still visited Warwick when he could.

“Two of my brothers, Paul and Gerry, are in Warwick and I have a lot of mates in the town,” he said.

Terry won’t be a stranger to racing when he parks at Allman Park on August 20.

He admits he became more involved in the racing industry after he left Warwick and was a regular at Saturday meetings at the Gold Coast for many years.

“I have been shares in a couple of racehorses,” Terry said.

He was in Wattys Choice, a horse which ran a couple of places under trainer Len Bryant.

This is the second time he has had a race named after him.

In the early 1990s, Repco named a number of races after branch managers at a race meeting which was sponsored by the company. The August 20 meeting is Ladies Day.