{{for|the winery owner and the eponymous winery|Egon Müller IV}} {{Short description|Motorcycle speedway rider from Germany}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}} {{Use British English|date=November 2023}} {{Infobox Speedway rider | name = Egon Müller | image = Egon Mueller 2018.jpg |caption =Egon Müller in 2018 | nationality = German | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1948|11|26|df=y}} | death_date = | birth_place = [[Kiel]], [[Allied-occupied Germany|Germany]]
| career1 = Germany | years2 = 1973–1976 | career2 = [[Team 70 Neumünster|Neumünster]] | years3 = 1977–1983 | career3 = [[MSC Brokstedt|Brokstedt]] | years4 = 1984–1987 | career4 = [[MSC Diedenbergen|Diedenbergen]] | career5 = Great Britain | years6 = 1973 | career6 = [[Coatbridge Tigers]] | years7 = 1976 | career7 = [[Hull Vikings]] | indivyear1 = 1983 | indivhonour1 = [[Speedway World Championship|World Champion]] | indivyear2 = 1974, 1975, 1978 | indivhonour2 = [[Individual Long Track World Championship|Long Track World Champion]] | indivyear3 = 1975, 1977, 1979,<br>1981, 1983, 1984, 1985 | indivhonour3 = [[German Individual Speedway Championship|German Champion]] | indivyear4 = 1976, 1981, 1984, 1985 | indivhonour4 = [[Continental Speedway Final|Continental Champion]] | indivyear5 = 1973, 1975, 1977, 1982, 1984, 1985 | indivhonour5 = [[West German Longtrack Champion]] | indivyear6 = 1978 | indivhonour6 = German Longtrack Golden Helmet Champion | indivyear7 = 1976, 1979. | indivhonour7 = German Longtrack Silver Helmet Champion }}
'''Egon Müller''' (born 26 November 1948) is a German former [[motorcycle speedway]] rider. He won the [[Speedway World Championship]] in 1983, winning the title in his homeland with a maximum score of 15 points.<ref>Oakes, P.(2004). ''British Speedway Who's Who''. {{ISBN|0-948882-81-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Montague|first=Trevor|title=The A-Z of Sport|year=2004|page=525|publisher=Little, Brown|isbn=0-316-72645-1}}</ref> He earned 44 international caps for the [[West German national speedway team]].<ref name=URI>{{cite web |url=https://britishspeedway.co.uk/docs/Ultimate_Index_1929-2022.pdf |title=Ultimate Rider Index, 1929-2022 |website=British Speedway |access-date=17 March 2024}}</ref>
==Early life== Müller was born on 26 November 1948 in [[Kiel]], [[Allied-occupied Germany|Germany]].<ref>Oakes, P & Rising, P (1986). ''1986 Speedway Yearbook''. {{ISBN|0-948882-00-X}}</ref>
==Career== ===Motorcycle speedway=== Egon Müller won the [[German Individual Speedway Championship|German Champion]] seven times (1975, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1984 and 1985). He rode briefly in the United Kingdom in 1973 for the [[Glasgow Tigers (speedway)|Coatbridge Tigers]] (Scotland), and in 1976 for the [[Hull Vikings]].<ref name=URI/> Despite him only appearing for a handful of meetings in 1976, [[Hull Vikings|Hull]] were granted a 'Egon Muller (Rider Replacement)' facility for the entire 1977 season.
Müller won the [[Individual Long Track World Championship|Long Track World Championship]] in 1974, 1975 and 1978. He finished second in 1980 and 1984, and finished third in 1976 and 1982. He also represented [[West Germany national speedway team|West Germany]] in the [[Speedway World Pairs Championship]], finishing a best of 3rd in [[1977 Speedway World Pairs Championship|1977]] at [[Hyde Road (speedway)|Hyde Road]] in [[Manchester]], [[England]] paired with [[Hans Wassermann]]. Müller also competed in the [[Speedway World Team Cup]] where he led the West Germans to a third-place finish in both [[1981 Speedway World Team Cup|1981]] at the [[Olching Speedwaybahn]] in [[Olching]], and again in [[1982 Speedway World Team Cup|1982]] at the [[White City Stadium]] in London, England. He was also a four-time winner of the Continental Final which was the last World Final qualifying round for European-based riders. Müller won the Continental Final in 1976, 1981, 1984 and 1985.
As of the [[2023 Speedway Grand Prix]] series, Egon Müller is the only German rider to have won the Speedway World Championship when he took out the title with a 15-point maximum at the [[Motodrom Halbemond]] in [[Norden, Lower Saxony|Norden]] in [[1983 Individual Speedway World Championship|1983]] from [[Australians|Australian]] [[Billy Sanders]] and [[1980 Individual Speedway World Championship|1980 champion]] [[Michael Lee (speedway rider)|Michael Lee]]. At a time when the Speedway World Championship Final was a single meeting that could throw up a surprise winner on the day, Müller was generally seen as a 'one hit wonder' in the same way that Poland's 1973 World Champion [[Jerzy Szczakiel]] was. However, Müller was a perennial championship contender having made four previous World Final appearances (1976, 1977, 1980 and 1981) as well as being a triple Long track World Champion, and an eight time German Champion.
Following the 1983 World Final, rumours surfaced that West German officials had given Müller extra practice time on the {{convert|400|m|yd|abbr=off}} Norden track that the other riders were not given. Other rumours also surfaced that many of the riders believed that the track had been prepared more like a [[Long track motorcycle racing|long track]] in order to give Müller an advantage, with the track actually receiving a grade by the tractor after each race. In commentary for British television, [[1976 Individual Speedway World Championship|1976 World Champion]] [[Peter Collins (speedway rider)|Peter Collins]] noted that the Motodrom that day was more like a Grass track than a regular speedway which definitely suited the West German.
Just two weeks after his 1983 World Championship win, Müller was reportedly involved in a motor accident on the [[Autobahn]] where he wrote off his [[Porsche]]. The accident saw him spend a couple of days in hospital with minor leg injuries. Just one week following this, he competed in the 1983 World Long Track final in [[Czechoslovakia]]. Müller went on to ride in the [[1984 Individual Speedway World Championship|1984]] and [[1985 Individual Speedway World Championship|1985]] World Finals but could not replicate his 1983 win, finishing in 14th place with just 3 points from his five rides on each occasion.
In 1987, while crossing the road in Amsterdam, he was hit by a car and broke his kneecap. This affected his career and he concentrated on longtrack afterwards.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bank Holiday Bonanza |work=Reading Evening Post |date=24 May 1986 |access-date=9 February 2024|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002471/19860524/312/0044 | via = [[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
===Music/actor=== Outside of his sport career, Muller was a pop singer under the stage name '''Amadeus Liszt''' (with some hits like "La Donna" in 1986, "Win The Race" in 1987 and "The Devil Wins" in 1989), a moderator at trade fairs, shows and charity events, an actor and a television personality.<ref>{{cite news |last=Thomas Schiffner |title=Egon Müller: Der ewige Quertreiber |url=http://www.motorsport-aktuell.com/panorama/egon-mueller-der-ewige-quertreiber-3021393.html |access-date=1 September 2013 |newspaper=motorsport |date=3 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101208015643/http://www.motorsport-aktuell.com/panorama/egon-mueller-der-ewige-quertreiber-3021393.html |archive-date=8 December 2010 }}</ref>
==World Final appearances==
===Individual World Championship=== * [[1976 Individual Speedway World Championship|1976]] - {{Flagicon|POL}} [[Chorzów]], [[Silesian Stadium]] - 8th - 8pts * [[1977 Individual Speedway World Championship|1977]] - {{Flagicon|SWE}} [[Gothenburg]], [[Ullevi]] - 7th - 8pts * [[1980 Individual Speedway World Championship|1980]] - {{Flagicon|SWE}} Gothenburg, Ullevi - 14th - 4pts * [[1981 Individual Speedway World Championship|1981]] - {{Flagicon|ENG}} London, [[Wembley Stadium (1923)|Wembley Stadium]] - 7th - 9pts * [[1983 Individual Speedway World Championship|1983]] - {{Flagicon|FRG}} [[Norden, Lower Saxony|Norden]], [[Motodrom Halbemond]] - '''Winner''' - 15pts * [[1984 Individual Speedway World Championship|1984]] - {{Flagicon|SWE}} Gothenburg, Ullevi - 14th - 3pts * [[1985 Individual Speedway World Championship|1985]] - {{Flagicon|ENG}} [[Bradford]], [[Odsal Stadium]] - 12th - 5pts
===World Pairs Championship=== * [[1977 Speedway World Pairs Championship|1977]] - {{Flagicon|ENG}} [[Manchester]], [[Hyde Road (speedway)|Hyde Road]] (with [[Hans Wassermann]]) - '''3rd''' - 18pts (11) * [[1981 Speedway World Pairs Championship|1981]] - {{Flagicon|POL}} [[Chorzów]], [[Silesian Stadium]] (with [[Georg Gilgenreiner]]) - 7th - 3pts (2) * [[1983 Speedway World Pairs Championship|1983]] - {{Flagicon|SWE}} Gothenburg, Ullevi (with [[Karl Maier (speedway rider)|Karl Maier]]) - 6th - 12pts (6)
===World Team Cup=== * [[1981 Speedway World Team Cup|1981]] - {{Flagicon|FRG}} [[Olching]], [[Olching Speedwaybahn]] (with [[Karl Maier (speedway rider)|Karl Maier]] / [[Georg Hack]] / [[Georg Gilgenreiner]]) - '''3rd''' - 28pts (10) * [[1982 Speedway World Team Cup|1982]] - {{Flagicon|ENG}} London, [[White City Stadium]] (with [[Georg Hack]] / [[Karl Maier (speedway rider)|Karl Maier]] / [[Alois Wiesböck]] / [[Georg Gilgenreiner]]) - '''3rd''' - 18pts (5)
==World Longtrack Championship==
* [[1973 Individual Long Track World Championship|1973]] – {{Flagicon|NOR}} [[Oslo]] (9th) 10pts * '''[[1974 Individual Long Track World Championship|1974]] – {{Flagicon|FRG}} [[Scheeßel]] (Champion) 30pts''' * '''[[1975 Individual Long Track World Championship|1975]] – {{Flagicon|YUG}} [[Gornja Radgona]] (Champion) 27pts''' * [[1976 Individual Long Track World Championship|1976]] – {{Flagicon|TCH}} [[Mariánské Lázně]] (Third) 21pts * [[1977 Individual Long Track World Championship|1977]] – {{Flagicon|DEN}} [[Aalborg]] (18th) 0pts * '''[[1978 Individual Long Track World Championship|1978]] – {{Flagicon|FRG}} [[Mühldorf]] (Champion) 26pts''' * [[1979 Individual Long Track World Championship|1979]] – {{Flagicon|TCH}} [[Mariánské Lázně]] (7th) 12pts * '''[[1980 Individual Long Track World Championship|1980]] – {{Flagicon|FRG}} [[Scheeßel]] (Second) 18pts''' * [[1981 Individual Long Track World Championship|1981]] – {{Flagicon|YUG}} [[Gornja Radgona]] (5th) 16pts * '''[[1982 Individual Long Track World Championship|1982]] – {{Flagicon|DEN}} [[Esbjerg]] (Third) 21pts''' * [[1983 Individual Long Track World Championship|1983]] – {{Flagicon|TCH}} [[Mariánské Lázně]] (8th) 11pts * '''[[1984 Individual Long Track World Championship|1984]] – {{Flagicon|FRG}} [[Herxheim bei Landau/Pfalz|Herxheim]] (Second) 19 pts''' * [[1985 Individual Long Track World Championship|1985]] – {{Flagicon|DEN}} [[Esbjerg]] (5th) 17pts * [[1986 Individual Long Track World Championship|1986]] Semi-final * [[1987 Individual Long Track World Championship|1987]] – {{Flagicon|FRG}} [[Mühldorf]] (5th) 15pts * [[1988 Individual Long Track World Championship|1988]] – {{Flagicon|FRG}} [[Scheeßel]] (9th) 15pts * [[1989 Individual Long Track World Championship|1989]] – {{Flagicon|TCH}} [[Mariánské Lázně]] (5th) 22pts * [[1990 Individual Long Track World Championship|1990]] Semi-final * [[1991 Individual Long Track World Championship|1991]] Semi-final * [[1992 Individual Long Track World Championship|1992]] – {{Flagicon|GER}} [[Pfarrkirchen]] (11th) 6pts * [[1993 Individual Long Track World Championship|1993]] – {{Flagicon|GER}} [[Mühldorf]] (7th) 11 * [[1994 Individual Long Track World Championship|1994]] – {{Flagicon|CZE}} [[Mariánské Lázně]] (4th) 17pts * [[1995 Individual Long Track World Championship|1995]] Semi-final * [[1996 Individual Long Track World Championship|1996]] – {{Flagicon|GER}} [[Herxheim bei Landau/Pfalz|Herxheim]] (13th) 5pts
'''Grand-Prix'''
* 1997 5 app (6th) 66pts
'''Best Grand-Prix Results''' * {{Flagicon|GER}} [[Cloppenburg Speedway|Cloppenburg]] – Third 1997 * {{Flagicon|GER}} [[Pfarrkirchen]] – Second 1997
==West German Longtrack Champion== 1973, 1975, 1977, 1982, 1984, 1985.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * http://grasstrackgb.co.uk/egon-muller/
{{Speedway World Champions}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Egon}} [[Category:1948 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:German speedway riders]] [[Category:West German speedway riders]] [[Category:Individual Speedway World Champions]] [[Category:Hull Vikings riders]] [[Category:German expatriate speedway riders in England]] [[Category:Sportspeople from Kiel]]