Race car driver Jessi Combs dies in crash during attempt to break land-speed record
Race car driver and TV personality Jessi Combs returned to Oregon with hopes of breaking her own record. Approximately 6 years ago she broke the women’s land speed record. Tragically, her record breaking attempt turned fatal. She died in a crash that is now being investigated.
The results from Jessi Combs fatal land speed record attempt will be sent to Guinness for verification, it was announced this weekend.
Autoblog reports that the average speed of Combs’ two runs in opposite directions across Oregon’s Alvord Desert on Aug. 27 was 531.889 mph, which would break the current women’s land speed record of 512.710 mph, set in 1976 by Kitty O’Neil at the same location.
Combs, 39, was driving the jet-powered North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger when it went out of control and crashed under circumstances that remain under investigation. She had previously used the vehicle to set the mark for "fastest woman on four wheels" at 398 mph in 2013.
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The racing driver, metal fabricator and TV personality was feted at an event on Saturday at the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, where news of the record submission was announced along with the establishment of a charitable foundation in her honor that aims to “educate, inspire and empower the next generation of female trailblazers and stereotype-breakers.”
(Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images))
The museum is also running a temporary exhibit celebrating Combs’ achievements through Sept. 25.