Throughout his NASCAR career, Greg Biffle had the reputation of being a down-to-earth, blue-collar collar everyman type of guy. He helped everyone, even his toughest competitors, because he believed in doing the right thing. It’s the way the Washington state native was raised.
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Although his racing career is over these days, Biffle continues to live in his adopted home state of North Carolina. And when he received a Facebook message late last September asking for help amid the horrendous devastation from Hurricane Helene in Western Carolina, Biffle didn’t hesitate to get involved.
He jumped right in to help in any way he could, even before some elected officials were able to muster efforts to assist the devastated residents. He didn’t do it for attention or notoriety, he did it because he believed in helping his fellow man.
Once again, as he has done so many times in his life — and not just in his racing career — Biffle helped the hurricane victims because it was the right thing.
The man affectionately nicknamed “The Biff” wasted no time. Even as local, state, and federal agencies were trying to determine where to start, Biffle jumped in with both hands and feet.
He piloted his own personal helicopter into the midst of the devastation to rescue trapped residents, as well as deliver food and supplies to those whose lives were ripped apart.
“I was working on a boat, getting ready to go to the Bahamas the next day for an eight-day trip, I was all excited,” Biffle said this week on the Lights Out with Johnny Roberts podcast.
“And then I got this message from two or three different people that a family with a couple of infants were stuck in an Airbnb (in the mountains) and they were out of food, baby formula, and diapers because they’d gone through the supply they bought.
“They were supposed to be leaving right when the storm hit. Now the power’s out, they’re stuck there and it was going to be weeks before they could get out because the roads were washed out, there was a tree down about every 30 feet for 25 miles, and on top of that, the bridge is gone, the roads are gone and the infrastructure is gone.
“I felt they had no way out unless I dropped what I was doing.”
His Vacation Could Wait, The Hurricane Victims Couldn’t
Biffle thought he’d only have to delay his trip to the Bahamas for a day and then could start his vacation.
On the contrary.
“Once I got up in the air and up near there, I was blown away and shocked by all the devastation I saw,” Biffle told Roberts. “Right away, I realized this is a much bigger situation than a lot of people know about.
“All communication was lost, so really there was no reporting on it. Not because of the fact people didn’t want to report it, they had no way of reporting it. Once we started showing photos and videos, and I made a post, I was going up there, we got about 4,000 messages in an hour of, ‘I haven’t heard from my neighbor’, ‘I haven’t heard from my parents’ or ‘I haven’t heard from my kids.’
“It was incredible what happened and what had taken place, and I don’t think anybody really knew.”
The soft-spoken former Xfinity and Truck Series champion became a literal one-man rescue team. Even when others came to volunteer, officials turned them away for a variety of reasons including liability, fear of death or injury, etc.
But no officials turned down The Biff and the help he offered. They wouldn’t dare.
Biffle’s Efforts Led to Others In NASCAR Also Helping Hurricane Victims
And Biffle’s effort led to a number of NASCAR teams also offering help, including helicopters from Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing and Dale Earnhardt’s former crew chief (and former TV analyst), Andy Petree, among others.
“I felt like I did what anybody else in my situation would have done, if they had the means, they had the opportunity in front of them,” Biffle told Roberts. “I just said, if I don’t go, who’s going to go, and that’s how I really looked at it.
“I felt like that at that point in my life, I was blessed to be in the situation I’m in and to have that opportunity, so I said I was going to go and try and help those folks.
“What I thought was going to be one day turned into 11 days in a row, sun-up to sundown and about 60 hours in that helicopter, of which I had only had 1,300 or 1,400 hours total (piloting time) up to that point.”
Bifffle Humbly Insists He’s No Hero
Biffle, who is nominated for the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2026 (the vote will be May 20th), received a hero’s welcome when he was introduced at the driver’s meeting before the Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway last October 16.
But Biffle humbly insists he’s no hero. He just did what he’s always done: he did what was right.
“I don’t want to take credit for this whole thing,” he said after being introduced at the Cup race in Charlotte. “Certainly, I’m getting a lot of credit. (But) There are so many people that have stories just like mine.”
