Edwards gained a reputation more as a sponsorship-chaser than for his driving. He scored his best results in the European 2-litre sports car series and in Formula 5000. In 1974 he got his break in Formula One with the Embassy Hill team, but it was not a front-runner. In 1976 he came back with a Penthouse-sponsored Hesketh, but found this even further off the pace and retired to the Aurora British Formula One series in which he had far more success.

At the Nurburgring in 1976 he was involved in the incident for which he is best remembered when he stopped his car and was one of three drivers who helped pull Niki Lauda from his blazing Ferrari. "I had time to get out of my car and run back and save him," he told Autosport in 1996."Petrol fires are such awful things. This was a big one. The heat and noise were incredible. It was not a pretty sight at all. I was running towards the fire and I was thinking - do I really want to do this? The honest answer was 'no way'. But what could I do? Stop and walk back? Holy hell, it was a mess. But the flames were so thick, I couldn't see the bastardc … I got hold of an arm and a good grip on his body and the little sod came out with all of us falling in a heap. We pulled him out like a cork from a bottle."

He was later awarded the Queens's Gallantry Medal for his bravery and subsequently became a sponsorship consultant within motor racing. He linked Silk Cut to the Jaguar sports car team before taking his portfolio to Lotus. This was not a success and the team folded at the end of 1994 with massive debts.