History's 'American Restoration' Helps NASCAR Driver Greg Biffle With Project

When Greg Biffle was 4 years old, his father introduced him to motorcycles. Young Greg would stand on a railroad tie to steady himself, then kick-start the bike and ride around with his dad.

That lifelong love of motorcycles and Biffle's sentimental feelings toward a certain bike will be on full display Wednesday night when the NASCAR driver is featured on History's American Restoration show (10 p.m. Eastern).

The show, which is one of Biffle's favorite TV programs, features Las Vegas-based restorer Rick Dale and his team of experts. When Biffle met Dale at the Las Vegas race this season, he told him about a possible project: Restoring his dad's 1973 Montesa Cappra motorcycle.

"I see Rick as myself," Biffle said via phone on Tuesday. "I love working on stuff in my shop. I've got a steel fabrication background, and I was sort of envious of what he was doing, because I'd love to do that.

"Nobody's bothering you, you're in your shop and you're tearing apart whatever it is, finding the pieces and parts and doing the research to track them down. I just think it's a cool thing he's doing."

Biffle had the Montesa pushed aside for years and figured Dale would be the perfect guy to restore it. The Spanish-made motorcycle is somewhat of a hybrid between a trail-riding bike and a trials-riding bike.

And no, that's not a typo. Trail riding is what it sounds like (riding a motorcycle on backwoods trails), while trials riding is something completely different.

"Trials riding is when they ride over impossible amounts of stuff," Biffle said. "The basics of trials riding is they would set up a course through a creek, straight up the side of a hill, over a four-foot tree and over a huge rock.

"You can't touch the ground or take your feet off the pegs. It's almost the art of balance."

Biffle can remember when one of his dad's friends did a trials-riding demonstration in the parking lot of a steelyard owned by Biffle's parents. The man hopped his bike up onto the hood of a Volkswagen Beetle and then rode up to the roof and posed for a picture.

That same man was the one who gave the motorcycle to Biffle's father.

Biffle plans to put the bike on display – perhaps in his office – so he can get a sense of nostalgia about his childhood.

"I've just got so many memories of doing stuff growing up with my dad, whether it was fishing or riding a motorcycle," Biffle said. "To come in and see it every day, it just reminds you."

His dad, who spends most of the time living in Mexico and doesn't have a phone, will be surprised when he visits Biffle later this summer and sees the bike restored to its former glory.

"One, I'm hoping he doesn't watch the show," Biffle said with a laugh. "Two, I'm hoping I get ahold of him in a reasonable amount of time (to show him the bike). He has no idea."

Note: To get a sense of "trials riding," check out the video below: