December 19, 2025 • 9 mins
The legendary voice from Performance Racing Network joins Bo and Beth to share his memories of Greg Biffle after the tragic news that he and his family, along with 3 others, lost their lives in a plane crash yesterday at Statesville Regional Airport.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
News Talk one oh seven point nine WBT on a
heavy Friday morning. To say the least, we are following
the breaking story yesterday and still developing the investigation. Former
NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, his wife, and two children, plus
three others on this flight were killed in a plane
crash Thursday morning in Statesville at the states Full Regional Airport.
(00:26):
PO Thompson and Beth Troutman here and throughout the morning,
we're going to talk to people who knew Greg Biffle,
talk about his legacy and what this means going forward.
And I, of course, immediately as I heard this story
and started thinking Beth about how we would cover it today,
I thought about a guy that has been someone we've
turned to when we have NASCAR stories, good and bad
(00:46):
and happy and sad over the years, and this is
definitely in the latter category. The longtime voice of the
Performance Racing Network. He's retired, but you still hear him
out and about in different places, and he's such a
respected voice in this NASCAR community. Doug Rice is with
us on a Friday morning. Doug, I hate the circumstances,
but I so appreciate you coming on.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
With us well. Both and Beth, thank you very much. Yeah,
it was a glum Thursday followed by a really kind
of dark Friday. In the whole NASCAR world. Greg had
made the transition from being a very successful driver who
was on the ballot for the NASCAR Hall of Fame
to almost folk hero status for what he did last
(01:29):
year in organizing relief for the hurricane victims up in
western North Carolina.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
I mean, he had just such a like you said,
such a following of people that weren't necessarily even NASCAR fans,
became more a fan of his post his NASCAR career
because he showed just how much he cared about his
fellow men with his actions.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Well, for people that don't know what Greg did last year,
shortly after Hurricane Helene hit, really before a lot of
us even realized how devastating it was, he got some
text messages and said, can you go fish some people
out of the North Carolina mountains with their helicopter? And
he went up there and he saw the devastation, and
he did two things. He made more and more trips
(02:16):
in his own helicopter, and his celebrity status and the
fact that he knows so many people helped him recruit more,
and before you know it, you had an armada of
small private planes and helicopters making runs up into the
mountains to pluck people out of canyons and ravines to
deliver EpiPens and insulin and other things. And that just
(02:39):
kept growing and growing. And his motivation for that was
just to help people. It wasn't about look at me,
I'm doing this. It was a true giving of a
spirit and that's people recognize that death.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Doug, talk to us if you would, about your personal
interactions with Greg Biffile over the years and his family
and what they meant to you.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
There was one year that he was part of a
co hosting group of drivers on our show Fast Talk.
After Denny Parsons passed. We recruited four different drivers to
come in and work with us on Monday nights, and
Greg was one of those and it was always a
real pleasure to work with. Interviewed him a lot during
the time, not going to say that we were close,
(03:25):
but the last time I saw him, oddly enough, it
was another giving situation. I was in seeing a cancer
event there in Charlotte, and the guy that was there
sort of the featured player of the day was Greg
Biffle offering up his mountain retreat area for people to
say in if they wanted to bid on it. And
(03:45):
it raised a tremendous amount of money. And here again
he just kind of did that quietly, without a lot
of fanfare. And that's some of the inter That's the
last time I think I saw Greg Biffle was at
the American Cancers Society fundraiser in Charlotte.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
I often saw him at cancer events, you know, the
Sherry Strong fundraiser events that they would do. One of them,
you know, was at the airport up there in Statesville
a few years ago. But I too, Doug, I was
telling a story just a few minutes ago about one
of my very first interviews ever as a media personality
was with Greg Biffle. And he was funny and fun
and charming. And this was when he was in the
(04:21):
Bush League, you know, the Bush Series, and wasn't even
yet a sprint cup driver, which I guess is what
it was called at the time. And I just remember
him is offering time and offering his just funny personality
and not you know, not being the celebrity that he was.
You know, he was just a guy who wanted to
(04:43):
be with people.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
It's so funny. I hosted some race and talk yesterday
on the Serious NASCAR channel for about five hours, and
we took tons of calls and there was a theme
for almost every caller, and it was im I met
Greg Biffle and he stopped and talked to me. He
didn't brush me off or just hurry along. He engaged me.
(05:08):
And that's that's pretty rare in the celebrity sports world
for him to do that. And I think his legacy
is going to be more about his helping people and
how he interact with people outside of the fact that
he was a very successful stock car driver.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
And we should mention, of course, that not just Greg Biffle,
but his wife, two children, and three others killed on
this flight yesterday. So the tragic nature of this, I mean,
we we it makes headlines because it's a plane crash.
It makes headlines because people know who Greg Biffle is.
But you know, seven lives were lost yesterday, and Doug
(05:45):
did you.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
It can't be lost on us, can't it? And it
weighed on me a lot yesterday just thinking about this,
and we get pounded with this kind of news sometimes
I think we get a little bit numb to it,
and then something comes along that shapes you into reality
that a family disappeared yesterday, and a father and a
son and another individual that was pretty well known in
(06:06):
the NASCAR world and just the blink of an eye
and they are gone. So yeah, it was one of
the heavier things that I had to experience in my time.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
I was wondering. I wanted to ask, did you know
Dennis and Jack Dutton and Craig Craig Wadsworth, the other
three individuals who lost their lives on the plane.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
No. I think the Duttons were the pilot and co pilot,
and Wadsworth was around the garage a lot. He worked
with Gregg and some other drivers in several different capacities,
but I didn't really know him.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Let me ask you before we let you go about
the legacy of Greg Biffel, the driver. And unfortunately this
is not the and he was retired obviously, but had
had a long and very successful career. But it's not
the first NASCAR driver that we've talked about losing under
tragic circumstances. I mean, of course, you think about Dale Earnhardt, Sr.
(07:05):
But there are many others we could mention too. When
you think about the NASCAR career legacy of Greg Biffele,
you covering NASCAR as long as you did, and call
in so many of his races, what would you say,
First and foremost.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
He was tenacious. It was kind of a blue collar driver,
and he had a really good career, and I think
it's weird that that's almost being Overshadowedy won nineteen Cup
races that just talked about. He won the Old Bus
Series championship, He won the Truck Series, and he came
(07:40):
so close to being the only driver to win all
three of them. He almost what was then the Sprint
Cup Series won it in two thousand and five. He
finished second to Tony Stewart that year. So he was
a very accomplished racer. And he came on the scene
because Bennie Parsons discovered him in a lower racing series
called the Winter. He and Benny himself called Jack Rouse
(08:03):
and said, you need to hire this guy before somebody
else gets it, and Jack hired him, and Greg's NASCAR
Cup career ran ten years. He won nineteen races, all
of them for the same race team. That doesn't happen
too often where a guy comes in, settles in with
a group, and stays there. So he was always associated
with rafts racing during his time.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
So well known in NASCAR circles for the obvious reasons,
but well known outside it as well because of his giving,
you know, personality, and especially what he did very recently
with the Helene recovery efforts in western North Carolina. Again,
like you said, it's a Friday, and it's a heavy Friday,
(08:46):
and I can't believe the headlines we're talking about. But
nobody better to help us have the perspective we need
on a day like today than Doug Rice, who has
been so much a voice in that community for years
and years. We appreciate you coming on. Like I said,
I hate the sircumstances, but always good to hear your voice.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Welcome, Beth. Thanks a lot for having me on. I
really appreciate it.
News Talk one oh seven point nine WBT on a
heavy Friday morning. To say the least, we are following
the breaking story yesterday and still developing the investigation. Former
NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, his wife, and two children, plus
three others on this flight were killed in a plane
crash Thursday morning in Statesville at the states Full Regional Airport.
(00:26):
PO Thompson and Beth Troutman here and throughout the morning,
we're going to talk to people who knew Greg Biffle,
talk about his legacy and what this means going forward.
And I, of course, immediately as I heard this story
and started thinking Beth about how we would cover it today,
I thought about a guy that has been someone we've
turned to when we have NASCAR stories, good and bad
(00:46):
and happy and sad over the years, and this is
definitely in the latter category. The longtime voice of the
Performance Racing Network. He's retired, but you still hear him
out and about in different places, and he's such a
respected voice in this NASCAR community. Doug Rice is with
us on a Friday morning. Doug, I hate the circumstances,
but I so appreciate you coming on.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
With us well. Both and Beth, thank you very much. Yeah,
it was a glum Thursday followed by a really kind
of dark Friday. In the whole NASCAR world. Greg had
made the transition from being a very successful driver who
was on the ballot for the NASCAR Hall of Fame
to almost folk hero status for what he did last
(01:29):
year in organizing relief for the hurricane victims up in
western North Carolina.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
I mean, he had just such a like you said,
such a following of people that weren't necessarily even NASCAR fans,
became more a fan of his post his NASCAR career
because he showed just how much he cared about his
fellow men with his actions.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Well, for people that don't know what Greg did last year,
shortly after Hurricane Helene hit, really before a lot of
us even realized how devastating it was, he got some
text messages and said, can you go fish some people
out of the North Carolina mountains with their helicopter? And
he went up there and he saw the devastation, and
he did two things. He made more and more trips
(02:16):
in his own helicopter, and his celebrity status and the
fact that he knows so many people helped him recruit more,
and before you know it, you had an armada of
small private planes and helicopters making runs up into the
mountains to pluck people out of canyons and ravines to
deliver EpiPens and insulin and other things. And that just
(02:39):
kept growing and growing. And his motivation for that was
just to help people. It wasn't about look at me,
I'm doing this. It was a true giving of a
spirit and that's people recognize that death.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Doug, talk to us if you would, about your personal
interactions with Greg Biffile over the years and his family
and what they meant to you.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
There was one year that he was part of a
co hosting group of drivers on our show Fast Talk.
After Denny Parsons passed. We recruited four different drivers to
come in and work with us on Monday nights, and
Greg was one of those and it was always a
real pleasure to work with. Interviewed him a lot during
the time, not going to say that we were close,
(03:25):
but the last time I saw him, oddly enough, it
was another giving situation. I was in seeing a cancer
event there in Charlotte, and the guy that was there
sort of the featured player of the day was Greg
Biffle offering up his mountain retreat area for people to
say in if they wanted to bid on it. And
(03:45):
it raised a tremendous amount of money. And here again
he just kind of did that quietly, without a lot
of fanfare. And that's some of the inter That's the
last time I think I saw Greg Biffle was at
the American Cancers Society fundraiser in Charlotte.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
I often saw him at cancer events, you know, the
Sherry Strong fundraiser events that they would do. One of them,
you know, was at the airport up there in Statesville
a few years ago. But I too, Doug, I was
telling a story just a few minutes ago about one
of my very first interviews ever as a media personality
was with Greg Biffle. And he was funny and fun
and charming. And this was when he was in the
(04:21):
Bush League, you know, the Bush Series, and wasn't even
yet a sprint cup driver, which I guess is what
it was called at the time. And I just remember
him is offering time and offering his just funny personality
and not you know, not being the celebrity that he was.
You know, he was just a guy who wanted to
(04:43):
be with people.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
It's so funny. I hosted some race and talk yesterday
on the Serious NASCAR channel for about five hours, and
we took tons of calls and there was a theme
for almost every caller, and it was im I met
Greg Biffle and he stopped and talked to me. He
didn't brush me off or just hurry along. He engaged me.
(05:08):
And that's that's pretty rare in the celebrity sports world
for him to do that. And I think his legacy
is going to be more about his helping people and
how he interact with people outside of the fact that
he was a very successful stock car driver.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
And we should mention, of course, that not just Greg Biffle,
but his wife, two children, and three others killed on
this flight yesterday. So the tragic nature of this, I mean,
we we it makes headlines because it's a plane crash.
It makes headlines because people know who Greg Biffle is.
But you know, seven lives were lost yesterday, and Doug
(05:45):
did you.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
It can't be lost on us, can't it? And it
weighed on me a lot yesterday just thinking about this,
and we get pounded with this kind of news sometimes
I think we get a little bit numb to it,
and then something comes along that shapes you into reality
that a family disappeared yesterday, and a father and a
son and another individual that was pretty well known in
(06:06):
the NASCAR world and just the blink of an eye
and they are gone. So yeah, it was one of
the heavier things that I had to experience in my time.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
I was wondering. I wanted to ask, did you know
Dennis and Jack Dutton and Craig Craig Wadsworth, the other
three individuals who lost their lives on the plane.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
No. I think the Duttons were the pilot and co pilot,
and Wadsworth was around the garage a lot. He worked
with Gregg and some other drivers in several different capacities,
but I didn't really know him.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Let me ask you before we let you go about
the legacy of Greg Biffel, the driver. And unfortunately this
is not the and he was retired obviously, but had
had a long and very successful career. But it's not
the first NASCAR driver that we've talked about losing under
tragic circumstances. I mean, of course, you think about Dale Earnhardt, Sr.
(07:05):
But there are many others we could mention too. When
you think about the NASCAR career legacy of Greg Biffele,
you covering NASCAR as long as you did, and call
in so many of his races, what would you say,
First and foremost.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
He was tenacious. It was kind of a blue collar driver,
and he had a really good career, and I think
it's weird that that's almost being Overshadowedy won nineteen Cup
races that just talked about. He won the Old Bus
Series championship, He won the Truck Series, and he came
(07:40):
so close to being the only driver to win all
three of them. He almost what was then the Sprint
Cup Series won it in two thousand and five. He
finished second to Tony Stewart that year. So he was
a very accomplished racer. And he came on the scene
because Bennie Parsons discovered him in a lower racing series
called the Winter. He and Benny himself called Jack Rouse
(08:03):
and said, you need to hire this guy before somebody
else gets it, and Jack hired him, and Greg's NASCAR
Cup career ran ten years. He won nineteen races, all
of them for the same race team. That doesn't happen
too often where a guy comes in, settles in with
a group, and stays there. So he was always associated
with rafts racing during his time.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
So well known in NASCAR circles for the obvious reasons,
but well known outside it as well because of his giving,
you know, personality, and especially what he did very recently
with the Helene recovery efforts in western North Carolina. Again,
like you said, it's a Friday, and it's a heavy Friday,
(08:46):
and I can't believe the headlines we're talking about. But
nobody better to help us have the perspective we need
on a day like today than Doug Rice, who has
been so much a voice in that community for years
and years. We appreciate you coming on. Like I said,
I hate the sircumstances, but always good to hear your voice.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Welcome, Beth. Thanks a lot for having me on. I
really appreciate it.
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