Alexander: David Ashley a standout in driver’s seat and beyond

The authoritative designation, erstwhile off-road racing Hall of Famer David Ashley passed distant past week, was that helium died of bosom nonaccomplishment aft being hospitalized with a lung infection.

But successful his 64 years of life? His was a immense heart, 1 that impacted immoderate fig of people.

He was known astir for his motorsports accomplishments. Ashley was inducted into the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame successful 2014, arsenic good arsenic the Sport Hall of Fame successful his hometown of Riverside successful 2016. He won 158 races successful deserts and stadiums and connected abbreviated courses, galore of those with racing spouse Dan Smith. He besides received 3 SCORE Milestone Awards – presented to those racers who completed each mile successful the organization’s godforsaken racing bid successful a fixed twelvemonth – and won play points championships 10 antithetic times from 1989 done 2008.

He was 1 of 9 drivers honored with the Triple Crown Award for winning wide victories successful SCORE’s 3 accepted Baja races, the Baja 1000, Baja 500 and San Felipe 250, and recorded the fastest clip ever successful the Baja 1000. He got his commencement successful racing with motorcycles astatine a young property and won a golden medal for the United States successful the International Six Day Trials successful Austria successful 1976, connected a Yamaha, 1 twelvemonth aft becoming the youngest rider ever to gain a berth successful that event.

“Dave conscionable had unthinkable tenacity arsenic a racer,” said longtime racing subordinate Wally Kaiser, recalling days and nights successful the desert, particulate and silt and soil swirling astir them, transmission problems and tyre problems and alternator problems and each the different things that tin spell awry with high-performance machines successful unsmooth conditions, and Ashley inactive uncovering a mode to get it done.

“You person to beryllium idiosyncratic that’s that focused to person the benignant of occurrence that Dave had,” Kaiser said. “I mean, I don’t person that benignant of focus. I don’t cognize precise galore radical that person that benignant of focus. But Dave was 1 of them.”

If Ashley had been 1 to brag – which by astir accounts helium wasn’t – helium could person besides boasted astir winning successful the Coliseum. That was successful 1987 erstwhile helium won the Mickey Thompson Off-Road Gran Prix successful a Jeep arsenic a replacement for Al Unser Jr., barreling into and retired of the peristyle extremity en way to the decorativeness line.

But the records, awards, medals and trophies represented conscionable a tiny information of what helium accomplished successful his clip connected earth.

He was an innovator. A head-on collision erstwhile helium was 18, resulting successful a fatality, led him to bash everything helium could to marque the athletics safer. He chaired drivers’ information meetings, offered input to promoters to marque courses safer, and provided feedback to less-experienced drivers astir avoiding occupation connected the course.

The NASCAR SuperTruck, conceptualized by David Ashley successful 1994. (Photo courtesy Suzanne Ashley.)

But helium went further, moving with Ford arsenic a advisor successful testing, probe and development. He conceptualized and helped physique the archetypal NASCAR Super Truck successful 1994, the prototype for that circuit’s archetypal motortruck racing bid successful ’95, and helium aboriginal helped physique the Raptor off-road contention truck. His enactment with Ford executives and engineers earned him the company’s Outstanding Engineer Achievement Award.

And determination was more.

For much than a decennary Ashley was a unpaid subordinate of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team. Among the things helium learned, as helium told the Los Angeles Times’ Shav Glick successful 1992, was that doing his homework was important. Before joining a 1991 hunt connected San Gorgonio Mountain for Jared Negrete, 12, a missing Boy Scout from El Monte who was ne'er found, helium recalled studying the boy’s inheritance and habits, picking up a imaginable hint successful a publication study wherever the lad wrote that he’d learned to screen his assemblage with leaves to enactment warm.

“One of the astir important things trackers indispensable bash is to larn to deliberation similar the idiosyncratic they are trying to find,” helium said then.

Even aft the hunt was officially called off, Ashley kept going backmost up that upland connected his ain to spot if helium could find Negrete.

“That’s the benignant of feline that Dave was,” said Kaiser, who was besides a subordinate of that hunt and rescue team. He noted that successful galore cases volunteers were attracted by the adventure, the “pretty manly stuff” involved. But successful Ashley’s case?

“I would accidental that Dave wanted to beryllium invaluable to society,” Kaiser said. “That was surely portion of it…

“Ever since I met Dave, determination was thing astir him that was beauteous unique. And, you know, I tried for years and years to enactment my digit connected it and travel up with a mode to specify it. You know, I was looking for a connection (and) integrity was the champion that I could travel up with, the prime of being honorable and having beardown motivation principles. And that would beryllium Dave. It conscionable stood retired with him much than anybody other I know.”

The instinct to assistance stayed with him. His parent Suzanne recalled that astatine 1 constituent helium assisted students astatine Owensboro (Ky.) Community and Technical College successful designing and gathering a car that won an award. Ultimately the assemblage received a $400,000 assistance successful aboriginal 2018 to motorboat a exertion initiative that, arsenic a schoolhouse quality merchandise said, would “offer hands-on construction, fabrication, fitting, welding, and manufacturing grooming successful a real-world, concern environment.” Ashley was the programme director.

More precocious helium had been caput of programming for General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, which produces drones for the military. He oversaw a radical of engineers astatine the company’s Adelanto location, and though he’d ne'er attended assemblage helium had learned astir the mode things enactment done racing, and helium was capable to walk connected that cognition and assistance the young engineers moving nether him.

“He would spell and survey however things were enactment unneurotic and why,” his parent said. “You know, ‘Don’t conscionable accidental that’s the best. Maybe there’s different mode we could bash it better.’ And past helium would get to the bottommost of it, fig it out.”

In his spare clip backmost location successful Riverside, helium would assistance retired with Riverside City College’s shot team, beryllium it giving the players an occasional pep speech oregon hauling successful ungraded to hole the tract oregon adjacent repairing a player’s mitt erstwhile a strap oregon the webbing broke. He tried to larn to play the violin, Kaiser noted, but that was 1 of the fewer things that didn’t cookware out.

“He conscionable enjoyed helping people,” Suzanne said. “When they archetypal enactment (news of his passing) retired connected Facebook, I mean, wrong 20 minutes determination were 300 immoderate unusual radical commenting connected what a fantastic idiosyncratic and however helium had changed their beingness and what helium meant to them and each that. And I don’t adjacent cognize who they are. I mean, they’re conscionable radical retired there, I mean strangers. But for immoderate reason, they would accidental things, you know, similar they, he’d helped them 1 mode oregon another, hole thing oregon alteration something.”

David Ashley is survived by his wife, Jennifer, and a son, Sean. A memorial work successful Riverside volition instrumentality spot Oct. 16, the nonstop determination inactive TBA.

To accommodate everyone whose lives helium touched, whitethorn we suggest a truly large church.

jalexander@scng.com

@Jim_Alexander connected Twitter