Background
He was born in Chemnitz, son of Hermann Pöge who encouraged him to study electrical engineering at the Chemnitz University of Technology in 1890.
He was born in Chemnitz, son of Hermann Pöge who encouraged him to study electrical engineering at the Chemnitz University of Technology in 1890.
After the father’s death in 1894, Willy worked with Heinrich Goetz in the establishment of a workshop making dynamos and transformers. He also established activities in other cities such as Berlin, Dortmund, Dresden, Leipzig, Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Frankfurt/Main, as well as exports to France, Greece, the Netherlands, Romania, Russia and overseas. The company was after his death sold to General Electric Company in 1930.
His fame however, is due to car racing.
Since 1903 he raced for Mercedes Benz, winning with Christian Lautenschlager and Otto Salzer in the 1908 French Grand Prix. His last race was Tsar Nichols"s Russian Touring Trial that same year, in which he triumphed.
He next started flying until he died of a heart attack in 1914.