Herbert Müller Rebmann (11 May 1940 – 24 May 1981) was a racing driver from

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. He was born in Reinach and was nicknamed ''Stumpen-Herbie''. Among other successes, he won the

Targa Florio The Targa Florio was a public road Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo, Sicily, Palermo. Founded in 1906 Targa Florio, 1906, it was the oldest sports car ra ...

twice, in 1966 and 1973, both with

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...

. Driving a Ferrari 512 in an

Interserie Interserie is the name of a European-based motorsport series started in 1970 that allows for a wide variety of racing cars from various eras and series to compete with less limited rules than in other series. Created in 1970 by German Gerhard Här ...

race at the

Nürburgring The () is a 150,000-person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long configuration, built in the 1920s ...

, he survived a fiery start collision that 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 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

in his Porsche 908 Turbo, racing with his longtime friend Siegfried Brunn. Before the event, Müller stated that he would retire from motorsports after the end of the race. On lap 17 of the race, Müller crashed while attempting to avoid another driver who had spun in front of him at Kesselchen. He collided heavily with an earth bank and then hit a previously retired car driven by

Bobby Rahal Robert Woodward Rahal ( ; born January 10, 1953) is an American racing driver and motorsports executive. As a driver, he won three championships and 24 races in the CART open-wheel series, including the 1986 Indianapolis 500. As co-owner of R ...

, causing a large explosion and fire. He was dead by the time he was removed from the burning car; he had not been wearing his safety belts at the time of the crash, and was killed in the initial impact. The race was stopped after 17 laps and was not completed.

Racing record

Complete Formula One World Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Non-championship Formula One results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Herbert Swiss racing drivers Racing drivers who died while racing Sport deaths in Germany Can-Am entrants 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers 1940 births 1981 deaths World Sportscar Championship drivers Swiss Formula One drivers 12 Hours of Reims drivers Porsche Motorsports drivers