Eventually, Drake moved to Indy's west side where he lives today. He's immersed in what surely must be the most intense short-track environment in the country, with tons of sprint car and midget people all living within a few miles of each other, and Drake loves it. You will find him at a number of racing-related functions throughout the year, socializing and greeting and making people laugh with his subtle, dry humor and his easy, laid-back style. Still, when the season is over, he returns to his true home, California.
"When it slows down here, I'll go out west and run some SCRA races and stay with my dad," he says. "It's an opportunity to spend time with my son, who I miss very, very much.
"Nicholas (who is now 5 years old) comes out sometimes and visits in the summer, but not as much as I'd like. As he gets older, maybe it will get easier. I tell him whenever he's around, he's my best friend. It's hard, not having him around. So the time I get to spend with him, winter or summer, is just very special."
Drake doesn't want to sound greedy. Winning 26 races in one season ought to be enough, he'll admit, but there was still room for a disappointment that has kind of lingered, hung around and bugged him as time has passed.
He won all those races in 2000, but he didn't win the USAC sprint car title. It came down to a close battle with Tony Elliott, who captured the championship by a mere 24 points.
Elliott ran all 28 USAC races; Drake, who began the year without a full-time ride, only ran 23. Ever since last year's Winchester finale, that has galled Drake just a little bit, knowing that if he had run all the USAC races, the outcome would likely have been different.
He says he has no gripe with Elliott. Really, he has no gripe with anyone or anything, because that's just how it worked out. But ...
"It's hard to be disappointed with anything when you win 26 races in one season," he says. "But if we had one thing, it was the USAC title. When it was over, and it finished so close, it's hard to stop thinking about what would have happened if we would have run all the races."
In 2000, he won 10 USAC sprint features of the 23 races he ran. Perhaps even more impressive is that in 23 races, he had 21 Top-10 finishes.
Winning all those races was great, he'll readily admit. But it's obvious in the midst of an easy-going conversation that winning a national title is something this guy craves deeply.
"I lined up rides in all three (USAC) divisions for this season, and I figured that's how you have to get it done, with solid, dependable rides.
"I've been second in points three times with USAC, and won three Western (midget) championships. But I really want to win a national title. That's important to me."
This season has been a different story from 2000. Oh, it's been good, Drake's quick to say. After all, he has won eight races overall and is fighting tooth-and-nail with Dave Darland and JJ Yeley for the USAC sprint title, a race that looks like it will go right down to the final event.
When Drake is asked if it's been tougher this year than he expected, after coming so close last year, he smiles at the question, and gives another one of those honest, self-examining answers.
"I might have had that mindset, to just come out this year and easily win the title hands-down," he says. "But it's not like that. It's really, really competitive. Every night out you know you're going up against Dave Darland, Tony Elliott, and a lot of really good racers who have been on these tracks for a long time.
"They're really hard to beat. And there are younger guys coming on who can win. It's tough, probably tougher than people realize."
So when the man with the monster season comes back and has a year that's downright normal, or average, naturally, people want to know what's wrong.