Speed racer Jessi Combs — known as the “fastest woman on four wheels” — was killed in a crash while attempting to break her own land speed record in Oregon, according to reports.
Combs, 39, was driving her jet-powered car Tuesday through the Alvord Desert when the accident happened, Road and Track reported.
The crash occurred on a dry lake bed and was reported to 911 dispatchers shortly after 4 p.m., news station KTYZ reported. The cause of the crash is under investigation, authorities said.
“It is with extreme grief, and in celebration of her life that her family and close friends share that race car driver, and TV personality Jessi Combs, passed away in a fatal crash, where she was pursuing a land speed record in the North American Eagle on August, 27th 2019 on a dry lake bed in Oregon,” her family said in a statement to media outlets.
“Surrounded by her family and friends at the time of her passing, Jessi lived fearlessly and her legacy lives on in the countless lives she touched.”
Combs, a former host of “Mythbusters,” has held the record for the “fastest woman on four wheels” after she piloted her jet-powered North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger at a speed of 398 mph in 2013.
Before her fatal accident, Combs wrote in an Instagram post Sunday: “People say I’m crazy. I say thank you,”
The auto legend had competed as a member of the North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger team, which she joined the same year she won the title, the publication reported.
Her teammate Terry Madden confirmed her death on Wednesday morning in an Instagram post.
“She was the most amazing spirit that I have ever or will ever know,” Madden wrote. “Unfortunately we lost her yesterday in a horrific accident, I was the first one there and trust me we did everything humanly possible to save her!!”
With Post wires