Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - Ashley ya fara tsere a 1966 lokacin da ya dauki wani hanya a Jim Russell Racing School. Ya kasance mai sauri amma ba shi da tabbas, kuma ba da daɗewa ba ya sami laƙabi "Crashley". Ya kai Formula 5000 a 1972 kuma ya kasance jagora a 1973. Ya fara fitowa a cikin Formula One a cikin 1974, kuma a takaice ya tuka ƙungiyar Williams a shekara mai zuwa. Sa'ar sa ta yi muni a tsakiyar shekarun 1970 a cikin Formula One. Ya kasance ya zama wanda aka azabtar da mummunar haɗari biyu a kan hanyoyin da ba a yi amfani da su ba ta hanyar Formula One ba da daɗewa ba bayan haɗarinsa biyu. A shekarar 1975, a gasar Grand Prix ta Jamus
a Nürburgring inda a lokacin horo, ya fadi sosai a wani bangare mai rikitarwa na Pflanzgarten kuma ya karya ƙafafunsa biyu, kuma a lokacin horo ga Grand Prix na Kanada a Mosport Park a 1977, ya tafi kan wata matsala, ya juyar da Hesketh, ya tsallake shinge kuma ya yi karo da hasumiyar talabijin. Bai sake yin tsere a Formula 1 ba.