JANUARY 21, 2002
Former F1 driver in trouble
Ashley - who was nicknamed "Crashley" during his racing career - had to abandon racing after only four Grands Prix races. He had a huge accident in qualifying for the German GP in August 1975 when he crashed his Williams at Nurburgring's daunting Pflanzgarten and broke both his ankles. He made a comeback in 1977 driving an Obex Oil Hesketh but flipped while cresting one of Mosport Park's famous bumps and somersaulted over the barriers and into a television tower. Ashley was seriously hurt again. He later turned to a career as a pilot of executive jets in the United States but returned to racing in the late 1990s driving in the British Touring Car Championship and in TVR Tuscans.