Drake Stevenson
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| Drake Stevenson | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Hapiloppian |
| Born | Drake Carl Stevenson II November 1, 1988 Hapilopper City, Hapilopper |
| NSSCRA career | |
| Debut season | 2021 |
| Current team | Team Blue |
| Car number | 81 |
| Starts | 17 |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Best finish | 38th in NSSCRA IX |
| Previous series | |
| 2008-2018 | HASCAR Challenge Cup |
| Championship titles | |
| 2011, 2013-14, 2018 2007 2006 | HASCAR Challenge Cup winner Berman Bros. Classic Winner HNE Half-Mile Late Model Track Champion |
| Awards | |
| 2013-15 2018 | Hapilopper's Driver of the Year H-Sports Athlete of the Year |
Drake Carl Stevenson II (born November 1, 1988), more commonly known as Drake Stevenson, is a Hapiloppian race car driver that has competed in the World Grand Prix Championships and the Nationstates Stock Car Racing Association. Stevenson has competed for Team Blue in the HASCAR Challenge Cup and in the NSSCRA. In HASCAR, Stevenson is a four-time winner of the Challenge Cup, winning in 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2018.
Stevenson has also competed for Eelandii VTGP in the World Grand Prix Championship, and for Nexus Racing in the World Grand Prix 2 Championship, and is known for his meticulous attention to detail, including a tendency to map out individual details on every race track he competes on. Currently, he drives the No. 81 HapiCorp Preston Super Skychief for Team Blue in NSSCRA.
Early life
Stevenson was born to Carl and Angela Stevenson in Hapilopper City in 1988, and attended Greenways Elementary School in Hapilopper City. While there, Stevenson gained an interest in automobile racing, association football and baseball. While attending Edwin James Middle School, Stevenson tried out for the school's soccer team, but found to be less of a talent than most of those trying out. While there, and while attending Thomas Earle High School, Stevenson befriended a classmate whose family owned a pair of race cars that competed at some of the local tracks across Hapilopper City.
Professional Racing Career
Early Career (2000-2009)
Stevenson kicked off his racing career driving a street stock for the Jones family, who owns a collection of car dealerships across Hapilopper City. Stevenson found success early, winning the street stock championship at Kent Road Raceway in 2001, winning six races along the way. Stevenson continued to compete in street stocks in 2002 and 2003, winning a total of 20 races at the Kent Road Raceway, the HNE Half-Mile Dirt Oval and Airport Raceway in nearby Conyers.
In 2004, Stevenson moved to late models, competing in primarily at the HNE Half-Mile. Stevenson won a total of 25 races between 2004 and 2007, winning the track championship at the HNE in 2006. In 2007, Stevenson won the Berman Bros. Classic during the Exhibition event itself, bringing substantial attention to his abilities as a driver.
- "The win in the Berman meant a lot of teams started looking my way. That was the catalyst to me moving up to the Challenge Cup. Without it, I don't think HASCAR teams would have seen what I was doing, and I don't think I would have made it to HASCAR, let alone the WGPC or the NSSCRA, without that win in the Berman Bros. HASCAR teams were watching us, and I beat everyone that day. I got noticed." - Drake Stevenson
Stevenson started to wind down his short track career in 2008, the same year he made his HASCAR debut. That year at Airport Raceway, Stevenson, battling for the lead, jumped the cushion and flipped end-over-end, landing outside the track. Stevenson was unhurt, but realized he needed to get out of racing on dirt every week. In an interview with the Hapilopper Television Network, Stevenson jokingly said he knew the crash was bad when the first person to get to him offered him a beer.
HASCAR (2008-2018)
Stevenson made his HASCAR debut in late 2008 driving a Major Excelsior for the Jones family, competing in the HapEx 500 at the Hapilopper City Raceway, starting 40th and finishing 27th, six laps behind the leaders.
Between the 2008 and 2009 seasons, Stevenson participated in a Team Blue test at the two-mile Hapilopper City Speedway, which he reportedly starred in. Stevenson had not been invited to the test, and instead found out about it when he was walking around the race track for exercise. Stevenson walked into the track and reportedly was offered a test drive around the track. According to then-Team Blue driver Chet Byrd in an interview with Hapilopper Today, the offer was made primarily to get Stevenson to leave Team Blue alone. When Stevenson wound up being faster than the rest of the Team Blue drivers, he was offered a full-time seat in 2009.
Stevenson made his Team Blue debut in the 2009 Westwood 500 at the West Hampton Motor Speedway, starting sixth and finishing third. That run set the tone for his season, as he won twice (at Perimeter Speedway in Surrey and the Buckridge Street Circuit) en route to a 7th place points finish.
Stevenson's 2010 season was even better, winning five times and finishing 2nd in the Challenge Cup standings. The highlight of that season was a stirring drive from 15th to the lead in the last six laps of the Buckridge 500, including passing eventual season champion Kurt Jernigan coming out of the final corner around the outside.
In 2011, Stevenson scored the first of his four Challenge Cups, winning seven races on the season. During that season, his notoriety grew, and he was named one of Preston Autos' top drivers at the start of the season. According to Team Blue team owner Ken Henson at the time, the move was made in order to provide Stevenson with the most factory support as possible and the best equipment in an effort to help him contend for a championship.
The 2012 season started off strong for Stevenson, winning the first three races of the season, before a string of crashes in the midpoint of the season ruined his chances at repeating as a Challenge Cup winner. The worst of those crashes took place at the West Hampton Motor Speedway, midway through the season. Stevenson, leading the race, experienced a right front tire failure and propelled him into the wall at almost 170 mph. Stevenson suffered a concussion, an injury that some analysts speculated impacted him for the rest of the season.
His 2013 and 2014 seasons are considered by experts to be among the finest seasons for a Challenge Cup champion since John Trueman's dominant three-peat championship run from 1975-77. In 2013, Stevenson won his second Challenge Cup with 10 wins on the season, the first time for a Challenge Cup winner to win 10 or more races on a season since Trueman's 16-win 1977 campaign. He followed it up with a third Cup in 2014, with nine wins. In both seasons, Stevenson locked up the championship with multiple races left in the season. At that time, rumors started to build about Stevenson's future with Team Blue, or perhaps in another racing series elsewhere in the multiverse. However, nothing came of it, and Stevenson remained with Team Blue.
In 2015, Stevenson was mired in a season-long battle with Brooks Benson for the Challenge Cup. Benson won four races to Stevenson's seven, but was more consistent throughout the season, scoring 22 top-10 finishes to Stevenson's 16. More importantly, Benson finished every race that season, while Stevenson was involved in multiple crashes that ruined his title hopes, particularly late in the season. His campaigns in 2016 and 2017 were similar, being marred by one too many accidents. In fact, one critic, H-Sports' Tucker Dunst, suggested that Stevenson was "the ultimate crash-or-win driver" on an episode of The Hot Take in mid-2017.
The worst of these accidents happened in the 2017 Buckridge 500. Stevenson, running with the lead draft, was turned by Tyson Hoyt coming out of turn two. Stevenson's car took off and flipped a dozen times in the infield grass before landing right-side up in the infield grass. Stevenson was unhurt, but his car was demolished.
His 2018 campaign was different, however, as Stevenson took five wins en route to his fourth Challenge Cup. To the surprise of many, after the season, he announced that he would not be defending his Challenge Cup title in 2019, choosing instead to pursue a career in the World Grand Prix Championship. "It's something I've always wanted to do," Stevenson told reporters after the season's last race. "Team Blue and HASCAR have done a lot for me, but I have to move on. Otherwise, I don't know if I'll be able to live out this dream."
Stevenson did not enter another HASCAR race afterwards, although in 2021, when Stevenson's time as a grand prix driver ended, he was rumored to be returning to the series alongside current drivers Mark Arbuckle and Brooks Benson. Such a move never came to pass, however.
World Grand Prix Championship 1 and 2 (2019-2020)
NSSCRA (2020-Present)
Following the run with Nexus Racing, Stevenson left Grand Prix racing to retake his position as driver consultant for Team Blue.
Super Skychief 500 win
After some close calls, Stevenson's first international triumph took part in the 2022 Super Skychief 500, performing a daring outside pass on Kai Qiang with five laps to go. The move, referred to by Hapiloppian fans as "The Pass," was the first time a Hapiloppian driver won the Super Skychief 500.
Personal Life
Stevenson is in a relationship with Taylor Henderson, a teammate at Team Blue.