Herbert Müller

Herbert Müller (10 May 1940 – 24 May 1981) was a racing driver from Switzerland. He was born in Reinach and was nicknamed "Stumpen-Herbie". Among others success, he won the Targa Florio twice, in 1966 and 1973, both with Porsche.

Driving a Ferrari 512 in an Interserie race at the Nürburgring, he survived a fiery start collision that luckily ended in the pit lane next to a fire engine. Müller got out of the car and ran towards a fire fighter who put out the flames on his overall.

He died in the 1981 1000 km Nürburgring in his Porsche 908 Turbo. The Porsche 935 of Bobby Rahal had been parked next to the track at "Klostertal" since lap 1, still loaded with fuel. Müller ran wide in a corner, probably due to an oil spill, and hit an earth bank at high speed. He was not wearing his seat belts, which caused him to fly against the window. The window acted like a guillotine. He was decapicated by the impact to the window. Due to the crash, the fuel tank broke causing an explosion. He did not escape from his car and the fire this time. Most common reason for the accident is, that he lost control of his Prototype trying to avoid the spinning GT-class Porsche of Karl-Josef Römer. Pictures of Müller running wide and the spinning Carrera RS of Römer exist.

External links

* [http://www.herbertmueller.ch/ Web site]
* [http://www.izdebski.de/Nurburgring/Nurburgring_81/nurburgring_81.php Another web site]