Heinz Prüller's 80th birthday
05/01/2021
Heinz Prüller's voice shaped ORF for decades. Not only Formula 1, but also women's ski races and boxing matches were commentated by him.
He did 650 F1 Grand Prix in a row for ORF alone, and today the broadcaster shares the races with Servus-TV. If one remembers Lauda's times, Prüller always held out his microphone with a short, simple question to the driver: "The qualifying, a madness?", and the driver gave his statement. His career began at the Kronen Zeitung newspaper in 1971, moving on to the sports magazine and then he headed the main sports department of Austrian radio. In 1995, he was voted Austria's most popular sports presenter and awarded the Golden Romy.
From 1965 to 2008, Heinz commentated on Formula 1 for ORF, and from 1970 also on the Alpine World Ski Championships. He wrote an annual F1 yearbook under the title: "Grand Prix Story". He is responsible for a total of 60 books, from Jochen Rindt to "Grimaldi: jetzt rede ich", a book about his own dog. His voice can also be heard in the German versions of the Hollywood films "Rush" and "Cars".
Some of his statements in his live broadcasts have become legendary. Here are a few samples: After an accident in the harbor chicane in Monaco: "This corner is particularly slippery because the fishermen always drag their nets across the road here." Furthermore: "This corner is very angular". "There are two types of tires: the very hard ones and the hard ones. All the teams have opted for the soft ones, the hard ones." "Ron Dennis named his first parrot "Turbo". It then died." "It's dry in the tunnel, it's not raining." "Ralf Schumacher is driving faster than his car can go." "If the race is stopped now, all drivers will of course receive double points." "The whole Williams pit is cheering! Unfortunately Frank Williams can't get up, he's confined to a wheelchair." "The drivers have to look in the rear-view mirror to see which way the rear of the car is going." "Mansell leads by six seconds." "You can always see how difficult it is when a driver is in trouble." "Unfortunately, I can't tell you yet that slicks will be back next year because it's still a secret." "I once commentated on a race that I didn't even see. The track was 2 km away from the commentary booths - then I was told the course of the race over the phone from Vienna, helpful information such as a blue car overtaking a yellow one, etc." "In Formula 1, it's unpleasant to drive at the front because the modern cars push so much air in front of you that you can feel the car behind you." "This is the corner where Alesi crashed, he was basically his own stuntman." "The drivers have so-called disposable visors that they can throw away." "Fastest lap for Schumacher, even though he slowed down." "That's a slow-motion recording, because Schumacher doesn't drive that slowly."
From time to time, he also got caught up in his background descriptions and forgot what was actually happening.
Heinz Prüller turned 80 years old on April 30, 2021.
We at Zwischengas, especially yours truly, congratulate the Austrian legend and wish him all the best. Heinz, thank you for your friendship and all the nice and funny conversations during countless coffee breaks during our time together in F1.
Photo © Helli Helga Mayer
