NEW RICHLAND, Minn. -- Jason Cummins knows there's a big check locked up somewhere on the grounds of Deer Creek Speedway — one with four zeroes at the end — waiting to be held up high by one lucky and talented driver.

Cummins figures he might as well be the one hoisting the $25,000 check for winning the second annual World Modified Dirt Track Championship, which runs Wednesday through Saturday next week at Deer Creek.

As of this past Monday, Cummins is one of 91 drivers who have pre-registered for the event. Each driver will race on at least one of the first three nights and will be slotted in to Saturday's series of feature races based on their qualifying-night performance.

Cummins will qualify on Wednesday. All drivers will earn points in time trials, heat races and preliminary features. The driver with the best points total after Friday's races are complete will earn the pole for Saturday's big-money A Main.

Regardless of the dollar amount on the check, though, Cummins will prepare for the WMDTC just as he does on any other race day.

"From a racer's perspective, I don't think we'll look at it any differently," said the driver from New Richland, who won the Deer Creek track title in 2010 and the Chateau Raceway title last season. "It's a neat deal that we get to time-trial, but as far as the racing, whether it's a weekly show or a $25,000-to-win show, we go about it the same way."

That philosophy has served the driver of the No. 71 Skryocket car well in both weekly points battles and in big-money events.

Cummins won the opening-night preliminary feature at last year's WMDTC to secure a spot in the A Main. It was one of the more impressive wins he's had, coming against great competition and with a car that made him work for it.

"It felt really good to win," he said, "but the biggest problem was, in a 35-lap feature, on lap 17 I lost my power steering, so it was as much a moral victory as anything. We had a few cautions, so I could rest my arms, but I've never been so tired getting out of a race car.

"I didn't know what had happened right away, so I stopped and had an official look at my car. He said he didn't see anything wrong with it, but they called the tow truck over and I said 'no, no, no' right away. I didn't want them to haul me off."

Cummins went on to finish seventh in the WMDTC A Main, earning $2,500. Two months later, he had one of the fastest cars at the annual USMTS Fall Jamboree at Deer Creek. He won a preliminary feature, finished fifth in the other prelim, but was eliminated from the A Main on the final night because of an early-race crash.

This season, he has again been a driver to beat at the local tracks. He sits second to Brandon Davis in the points standings at Deer Creek and Chateau Raceway. He has won twice at Deer Creek and has finished in the top three in seven of 10 features. At Chateau, he has six top-five finishes in seven races.

"Brandon's been on his game. He's been really fast," Cummins said. "We've been able to snag a couple, but a guy would always like a few more.

"We're looking forward to next week. We have a pretty good hot rod and if (Davis) wasn't winning so much, we'd probably have a few more."

Source: The Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN