Meet Foster, the dog who inspired Greg Biffle's foundation
Roush Fenway Racing's Greg Biffle and his beloved dog Foster. // Jim Fluharty, NASCAR Scene
At his race shop in Mooresville, N.C., Greg Biffle has what appears to be a constant shadow. Never far from the Roush Fenway Racing driver is his 7-1/2 year old boxer Foster.
This is not your average dog.
Foster can and will open the front door of the shop for you. There are plenty of paw prints on the outside of the building to prove it. Foster loves to be photographed. He was even the poster boy for Milk Bones in 2004.
Foster is also a cancer survivor.
“See his scar? That’s why that patch is there. See how the skin’s different? He had a tumor in his neck, and he had it removed,” Biffle, ever the proud papa, says as he pats the dog’s side.
Most importantly, perhaps, Foster is the inspiration for Biffle’s foundation and its ongoing efforts to save dogs from being euthanized.
The Greg Biffle Foundation was launched in 2005, and its mission is to create awareness and serve as an advocate to improve the well-being of animals by engaging the power and passion of the motorsports industry.
Monthly rescue flights run from Mooresville to the North Shore Animal League in Port Washington, N.Y. NSAL bills itself as the largest no-kill animal rescue and adoption organization in the world.
How many dogs have Biffle and his wife, Nicole, helped save so far?
“It’s in the thousands. We probably rescue with puppy transport 30-40 a month, and we’ve done that for three years, so that’s 300 or 400 a year,” Biffle says. “And we actually place a tremendous amount of animals here, too. Team guys now will come to us. Nicole does a lot of these local rescue group [efforts].”
Biffle grew up with dogs in the Pacific Northwest – a German Shepherd named Fritzy, Irish Setter Wally and a Black Lab named RC among them – but was without a pet when he moved to Detroit in the late 1990s to compete in what is now the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
Later, upon his relocation to North Carolina, Biffle rented a place with a yard and added Foster to the mix.
“He just became part of the family,” Biffle says. “He just means the world to me.”
The Biffles also own Foster’s daughter, Gracie, and now Savannah, who was rescued from a shelter in Georgia.
Biffle says his animal welfare work is far from finished.
“Getting older and doing all the things you’re passionate about – and animals is one of them – we’ve been trying to build a shelter here in Mooresville. I have a picture in my head of what I want to build,” Biffle says. “A little bit smaller than PetSmart, but for animal adoption and animal welfare and spay/neuter. That’s the main thing. I hate to sound like Bob Barker, but one dog that’s not spayed or neutered [means] there’s nine, and then nine makes 81. I want a building that’s nice, bright and clean [where] you come here and get your pet.”
For more information on Biffle’s foundation, visit www.gregbifflefoundation.com.
