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Jessi Combs, ‘the fastest woman on four wheels,’ dies while trying to beat record

Posted at 1:38 PM, Aug 28, 2019
and last updated 2019-08-28 13:38:47-04

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – AUGUST 02: Co-host Jessi Combs speaks at the ‘Overhaulin’ discussion panel during the Discovery Networks/Velocity portion of the 2012 Summer Television Critics Association tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on August 2, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

Race car driver Jessi Combs, who earned the title of the “fastest woman on four wheels” after she set a record with a jet-powered car, has died. She crashed the vehicle, officials said, while trying to beat a land speed record.

Combs died Tuesday in Alvord Desert in southeast Oregon, the Harney County Sheriff’s Office said. She was 39.

“She was a brilliant & to[p]-notch builder, engineer, driver, fabricator, and science communicator, & strove everyday to encourage others by her prodigious example,” said Adam Savage, former co-host of the TV show “Mythbusters.”

Combs appeared in multiple episodes of the show, while host Kari Byron was on maternity leave. She also appeared as a host in shows such as “All Girls Garage” and “Overhaulin’.”

Combs became the fastest woman on four wheels in 2013 at theNorth American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger, when she set a record of398 mph.

In October, Combs set a new top speed of 483.2 mph in a shakedown run.

On Tuesday, she was attempting to go faster when she crashed.

“On August 27, 2019 at approximately 4:00PM the Harney County 911 Center received a call reporting that a jet car attempting to break a land speed record on the Alvord Desert had crashed leading to one fatality,” the sheriff’s office said.

Her resume was full of firsts: the first woman to place at any Ultra4 event; the first woman to compete in The Race of Gentlemen event.

Valerie Thompson, the first woman to exceed 300 mph on a motorcycle and the “fastest woman on two wheels” expressed grief on Twitter, posting photos of the two of them together.

“It’s with a heavy heart that I pass along the news that Jessi Combs passed away yesterday while attempting to break a land speed record,” she wrote. “I also had the chance to attempt this record but it wasn’t my turn… this hits home for me. Godspeed, Jessi Combs.”

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