Twenty-five-year old ML Motorsports drvier Jason Jarrett, son of Winston Cup driver Dale Jarrett, remembers well a crash at a track in Memphis, Tenn.

The incident, which occurred while testing his Rayovac-sponsored Busch Series car, broke his left foot, left him with pains in his neck and sidelined him for five races.

Jarrett, a third-generation stock car driver, knows the risks involved when he crawls into a race car that could travel up to 180 miles per hour. He was at a memorial service last week as the racing world bid farewell to seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt, the driver least expected to die on the race track.

Jarrett has seen his share of crashes, he's been in his share of crashes, yet the dark-haired Hickory, N.C., native is like any other race car driver - he says he feels completely safe in the car. Whether it was in the Busch Series, or this year driving the Mary Louise Miller-owned No. 67 Pontiac in the ARCA/ReMax Series, Jarrett says race cars are safe.

"I feel safe in the car," Jarrett said Wednesday at the ML Motorsports headquarters at Warsaw Municipal Airport. "ARCA does a good job with safety features as a sanctioning body, but it's not up to the sanctioning body, it's up to the individuals."

Since Earnhardt's death on the final lap of the Daytona 500, numerous newspaper articles and television have focused on a safety feature called the HANS (head and neck safety) Device.

The device, which is designed to restrain the drivers head from moving forward during sudden stops, was tabbed as uncomfortable and to have limited drivers' views to the left or right.

Jarrett has been wearing the device since last October, purchasing it before his ARCA debut in Charlotte. Jarrett's father, a three-time Daytona 500 winner, was wearing the device in the race that took Earnhardt's life.

In the wake of Earnhardt's death, NASCAR's Winston Cup drivers spent time this week testing the HANS Device before this Sunday's race in Las Vegas. A number of drivers said they would start wearing it, saying they would just have to learn to get get comfortable with the device.

"People are always concerned about safety, but they really stepped it up last year," the younger Jarrett said.

In the past year, NASCAR has lost four drivers - Busch Series driver Adam Petty, Craftsman Truck Series driver Tony Roper and Winston Cup drivers Kenny Irwin Jr. and Earnhardt.

Irwin and the 19-year-old Petty, who was to be the next Petty great, following in the footsteps of legendary grandfather Richard Petty, were killed at the same track in the same turn.

Since then, NASCAR has come up with the idea of using soft walls, while currently using throttle stops and restrictor plates and endorsing the HANS Device.

"We know the sport is dangerous and that we're not going to stop everthing, but we've lost four in a year," Jarrett said.

Despite the deaths of four drivers - five if you count Michigan ARCA driver Scott Baker - Jarrett said he feels safer driving a race car at 180 miles per hour than he does driving his truck on the interstate.

In his race car he has a six-point seat belt system, full-face helmet, HANS Device and is looking at getting a special foam that would go around his seat and form to his body.

On the track he knows he's with professionals. On the interstate he doesn't know if he's behind or in front of a drunk driver.

Reports this week calculated that even with recent deaths, the chance of a stock car driver being fatally injured on the track was one in 36,000.

Jarrett and the ML Motorsports team will race April 13 at Nashville Speedway in Lebanon, Tenn., the track's inaugural race. [[In-content Ad]]