known . The young star felt confident behind the wheel , a nod to Brooks ’ standout ability to coach newcomers .
Brooks has a penchant for bringing along new Top Fuel racers at a rapid rate , most recently doing it with Richie Crampton at Morgan Lucas Racing . Crampton quickly became a standout competitor early in his NHRA Top Fuel career , and he ’ s had that same magic touch with Ashley , which hasn ’ t gone unnoticed by the New York native .
“ I think that him and I are alike in a lot of ways in the sense that we ’ re both pretty non-emotional . When it comes to racing , we ’ re both pretty even-keeled . I think that we ’ re able to play off each other really well ,” Ashley says . “ I have a lot of respect for Aaron . Being a rookie , you ’ re in situations where you ’ ll experience things for the first time , and I think something that ’ s important about our relationship is open lines of communication . He ’ ll tell me some things that I can improve on or he ’ ll tell me some things that I did really well . Just over the course of the year , I experienced different things during different races because different things would happen that I never experienced before . I think that those instances help grow our relationship stronger
November 2020 and help make our team stronger .”
Ashley isn ’ t shy about how much Brooks has meant to his career , either , making a bold proclamation he hopes to speak into existence .
“ The truth is , as long as I ’ m racing , I want to ride it out with him , I want him to be my crew chief for the rest of my racing career ,” Ashley says . “ He doesn ’ t get too high , doesn ’ t get too low , and just focuses on the task at hand , and I think I do the same thing . I think that our relationship works out really well together . We have each other ’ s backs , and we know what we both bring to the table . It ’ s been fun working with him . I ’ ve learned a lot from working with him over a short period of time , and I want it to continue that way for a long time .”
With a strong team intact on the track , Ashley has dazzled off the track , securing funding and sponsorship to allow a single-car team to hold its own against the multi-car giants like Torrence Racing , Don Schumacher Racing , Kalitta Motorsports , John Force Racing and others .
His sponsorship with Strutmasters is already renewed for 2021 , as is his partnership with Auto Shocker . But Ashley has also been adept at stepping outside of the motorsports world , adding sponsors like Manscaped – which has enjoyed massive growth , particularly by sponsoring a number of popular podcasts – and GuardLab .
Both were noteworthy in the fact they strayed from the norm when it comes to typical drag racing sponsorship and it happened during an unprecedented 2020 season . The public health crisis made things exponentially more difficult , but finding partners in spite of that is one of the traits that has made Ashley special .
He ’ s recognized the importance of that side of the business and has immediately carved out a unique path in procuring partners to race at a high level .
“ We were fortunate enough to bring on marketing partners who supported our program , continued to support our program through this whole pandemic , which was one of the most unpredictable times in American history , and same with our program . Without them , we wouldn ’ t be able to be on the track doing what we ’ re doing at a high level ,” Ashley asserts .
“ It all starts with the funding that you can bring to the table because at the end of the day , this car costs money , and you need to bring on partners that are a good fit for your program ,
DragIllustrated . com | Drag Illustrated | 77