The man honored in this book was a very special phenomenon. In Harald Lembke's "Heiteres Beruferaten" he would hardly have been classified as a racing driver, much more as a folkloristic music maker behind a "Schwyzerörgeli".
His son Daniel - now the visual embodiment of the mountain spirit Rübezahl - worked with various helpers for around six years to compile 380 pages, creating a truly complete biography of the exceptional Swiss racing driver.
Extensive
Once again, it's a very thick volume, but every single page is dedicated to the man who can be seen on every page and who raced in over 230 completely different competition cars during his successful career. Regardless of whether he was driving a Porsche 917 or a BMW 320, he was blazingly fast in everything and highly praised by all his competitors.
Herbert's childhood years were happy. He was the well-off little boy of successful entrepreneur Arthur Müller (metal finishing) and was given his first pedal car at the age of two. As a seven-year-old, he was already driving his father's Buick into the garage. When the car wouldn't roll over the threshold during one of his first attempts at carefully pushing the gas pedal, Herbert stepped on the gas a little more boldly and hit the back wall. To little Herbert's surprise and relief, his father just laughed.
International Palmares
His sporting successes were internationally impressive, as he won the Targa Florio twice (1966, 1973) and also finished second overall twice at Le Mans (1971 and 1974).
He became an Italian national hero with his magnificent race to catch up at the 1969 Targa Florio when, after a late-night engine change and misfiring at the pre-start, he had to chase after the field that had already set off. But he overtook 61 (in words "sixty-one") competitors on the narrow uphill and downhill track on his first lap in the still heavy, fully fueled Lola T70 and set times almost as fast as the leading Porsche 908/2 of Mitter/Schütz. After three laps he was already in third place, but unfortunately the end came on the fourth lap, a broken wheel bearing prevented another top result.
Special stories on the sidelines
As in all new books, the intimate side stories about the people described are of much greater importance today than all the documented race results.
What was the optical garden gnome with the nickname "Stumpen-Herbi" really like? There are plenty of anecdotes to read about, each separated from the running text by a blue bar in the margin.
For example, on September 13, 1959, he had to swerve out of the way of a cyclist with a Chianti flask in his Austin Healey Sprite in Milan and ended up in hospital as a result. Another special story is when the trailer with the ex-Heini Walter Porsche RSK became independent on the Flüela Pass. And the reader learns how Herbert got his rivals Kauhsen/Steckkönig a can of petrol at the Targa-Florio in no time at all.
These are all stories that make us smile and which we can no longer imagine in today's perfect world.
Chronological essay
Jörg-Thomas Födisch, together with Rainer Rossbach, chronologically chronicles the history of "Stumpen Herbi" in all its facets.
For example, the text on the 1971 motorsport season begins: "Year one after Filipinetti. As announced in the fall of the previous year, Herbert Müller now started his own company. His team was now called "Herbert Müller Racing", the new partner was René Herzog, a successful Swiss touring car driver, and Müller gave the press the first hints: "In Herbert Müller's garage there are three Ferrari 512S of a new Swiss racing team, which is to take part in the racing action in 1971 ...
Fire
In the foreword, Marc Surer quotes an ancient proverb rehashed by Goethe: "A burnt child shuns fire", referring to Müller's two fire accidents at the Nürburgring. He survived the first with a great deal of luck, but in the second, all his guardian angels were on vacation.
Looking back, Marc writes: "What remains is the memory of a fine guy and fellow driver of great stature. Dedicating this book to him now is a kind of compulsory task, and it has been an outstanding success. It sheds light on the many facets of this man with a crew cut and reddish beard, as a person, entrepreneur and racing driver, who once said of himself on the subject of job titles: "I am an entrepreneur, a car dealer and at the same time a professional amateur racing driver." There is no better way to describe this person.
Lots of rare images
Once again, there are of course countless photographic documents from various archives to admire in this book imposed by McKlein. As a minor criticism, I would like to mention the relationship between car and people photos, which is somewhat one-sided. Herbert was a brilliant personality with a wonderful head of character, who always presented himself with a wide variety of hair styles and was certainly photographed often and with pleasure by the photographers. The pictures would have been available!
But that's complaining on a high level, because it is thanks to son Daniel and the authors that they have published another great book that reminds us of the racing warhorses of yesteryear, who provided many exciting stories both on and off the racetrack.
Bibliographical details
- Title: Herbert Müller "... everything too slow!"
- Authors: Jörg-Thomas Födisch, Rainer Roßbach
- Language: German
- Publisher: McKlein Media GmbH & Co KG // Edition Porsche Museum
- Edition: 1st edition May 2021
- Format: Hardcover, 30 x 24 cm
- Size: 384 pages, 253 photos in color, 257 in black and white
- ISBN number: 978-3-947156-33-7
- Price: EUR 79.00 / CHF 89.00
- Buy/order: Online at amazon.de, online in the McKlein store or in well-assorted bookstores
