SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Kale Drake set a new record en route to the USAC National Parallax Group Passing Master championship.
The Collinsville, Oklahoma native advanced a total of 242 positions in features throughout the season across all three USAC national divisions (Silver Crown, AMSOIL National Sprint & NOS Energy Drink National Midget), surpassing the former single season record of 230 set by Justin Grant in 2021. For his performance, Drake earned a $2,500 reward.
Drake did his work across all USAC national divisions in the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports Midget, the 2B Racing Sprint Car and the McQuinn Motorsports Silver Crown car, making a total of 60 starts. That works out to at least four cars passed per start for the 20-year-old Drake.
“To set the record is super special,” Drake exclaimed. “I think it’s cool that they started recording this because it’s not easy passing these guys when you’re doing it with the best in the business. All these guys are constantly trying to win, just as I am, but when you’re doing it from the back, it’s a little bit harder. So, I’m pretty proud of it.”
Drake did most of his passing by digging deep after starting deep. In fact, he was the hard charger of the feature on 10 different occasions this season. No other driver had more than four! In eight different instances, Drake advanced more than 10 positions in a feature, salvaging the night after starting near the back of the pack.
“It’s pretty cool to show the amount of resilience my teams and myself have had this year,” Drake said. “It’s no secret that qualifying has been our worst enemy. We’ve started behind the eight ball most nights. To have the grit and determination and resilience to continue pushing as far up in the pack each night and always moving forward is super cool.”
Drake led the passing master points in each month of the season from February to November, ultimately winning the battle by 61 passes over runner-up Gunnar Setser. In all reality, it was over as soon as it began with Drake commanding a massive lead by the end April, already passing 72 cars.
“We had a lot of tracks that were cowboy up at the sprint car races early in the year. Even in Florida, we started off with some really good runs coming from the back at Volusia,” Drake recalled. “Getting the opportunity to run all these tracks that I hadn’t seen, that was a lot of it. Once I got going in the feature, I could really just get after it. We were able to pass a lot of good guys when it was rough and the conditions weren’t ideal. I really seem to thrive on tracks like that for some reason, but I don’t really know why.”
Drake’s most personally memorable run was the Midwest opening USAC National Sprint Car race at Honest Abe Roofing Lincoln Park Speedway in April. Starting 23rd in the field, Drake climbed 18 spots to finish the 30-lap feature in fifth.
“We got a really good run there on a super rough track,” Drake remembered. “It was a little bit chilly that night, and my shield was fogging up and we were going through tear offs like crazy. It’s just one I’ll remember forever. It got me my best run at one of my least favorite tracks that I’ve now grown to like. I think that was probably my favorite one.”
For Drake, it was quite a remarkable year of passing cars. If he had a preference, he’d rather not have to work as hard as he did to make his way to the front. But for all of us who get to witness it, it sure is fun to watch, and it paid off for him in the end as well.
“It was a lot of fun, but I certainly would’ve loved to have started further up, so we weren’t having to pass as many cars,” Drake laughed. “But I think it helps you keep your head high instead of getting down on yourself when you’re making good strides like that. When there’s cool rewards up for grabs, thanks to Parallax Group, and Rod End Supply for the hard charger awards, that makes it a little bit easier when you seem to be down.”
