The 1978 Individual Long Track World Championship was the eighth edition of the FIM speedway Individual Long Track World Championship. The event was held on 10 September 1978 in Mühldorf, West Germany.
The world title was won by Egon Müller of West Germany for third time after he defeated Alois Wiesböck in a run off for the gold medal. Ivan Mauger was unbeaten in his first four rides but then suffered engine problems and Peter Collins would have won the title but in his last race his chain broke and he had to push his bike over the line for one point.
Final Classification Pos Rider Heat Pts Heat Pts Heat Pts Heat Pts Heat Pts Heat Pts Total Pts1 Egon Müller 4 3 4 5 5 5 26 2 Alois Wiesböck 5 4 44 4 5 263 Peter Collins 5 4 4 5 5 1 244 Ivan Mauger 5 5 5 5 2 2 24 5 Ole Olsen 3 3 5 4 4 4 23 6 Georg Hack 4 4 2 1 3 5 19 7 Karl Maier 5 2 3 4 3 ef 17 8 Jiri Jirout 0 2 3 ef 3 4 12 9 Jiří Štancl 3 ef 4 3 ns 1 1110 Aleš Dryml Sr. 2 2 0 2 1 3 10 11 Scott Autrey 2 2 x 5 0 ef 912 Kristian Præstbro 3 1 1 0 31 913 Jan Verner 0 3 1 2 21 9 14 Don Godden 1 1 2 2 2 0 8 15 Zdeněk Kudrna 0 1 1 1 3 1 7 16 Wilhelm Duden 0 2 3 ef ef ns 5 17 Otto Lantenhammer - - - - 1 - 1
ef = engine failure ns = Non starter x = excluded
Run Off Gold medal - Müller beat Wiesböck Bronze medal - Collins beat Mauger
References