Fastest woman on four wheels died trying to set a new land-speed record Contact us
In her quest to set land-speed records, Jessi Combs looked to the sky. The vehicle in which she barrelled through the Oregon desert travelled as fast as an aircraft. In fact, it once was. Her project team, North American Eagle, took an abandoned, graffiti-covered F-104A fighter jet, renovated the fuselage, clipped the wings, added aluminium wheels, upgraded the engine to 45,500 horsepower and strapped Combs into the cockpit, the bright-red machine kicking up a dense dust trail as it streaked into the distance.
She died, aged 39, in what was reportedly a fiery crash in the Alvord Desert, a dry lake bed in Oregon, while attempting to break the female landspeed record of just over
825kmh, held since 1976 by the ‘‘Deaf Daredevil’’, Kitty O’Neil, and set at the same location. Combs was pronounced dead at the scene.
Combs, an energetic and upbeat television presenter with a hands-on style, had devoted much of her 30s to becoming the quickest driver in the world. Her aim was first to beat the time set by O’Neil, then pursue her ultimate goal: the overall world land-speed record of almost 1228kmh, achieved by Andy Green, a Briton, in the Nevada desert in 1997. Combs could, at least, claim to be the fastest woman on four wheels; O’Neil’s vehicle had only three.
The four-wheeled benchmark was set in 2013 as Combs was recorded at 632kmh. She also drove the vehicle in a test run in September 2018, reaching 777kmh before a lock mechanism failed, a door blew off and debris damaged the engine.
The records she targeted were determined by the average pace over two short runs, but Combs also relished driving for much lengthier spells. In 2015 she took part in the Rallye Aicha des Gazelles du Maroc, a nineday, all-female off-road competition in the Sahara in which participants must guide themselves using a map and compass rather than satellite navigation. She also secured high-placed finishes in the Baja 1000, a notoriously gruelling off-road race through the Baja California peninsula in Mexico.
In the latter race, Combs drove a 2017 Bugatti Chiron – one of the world’s fastest and costliest production cars, with a limited top speed of 420kmh and a price tag of US$2.6 million – for an episode of Jay Leno’s Garage, a motoring series with the former talk show host. They handled it with relative restraint, however, mindful of the risk of attracting the unwelcome attention of the highway patrol, let alone what an accident might do to the insurance premium.
Jessica Michelle Combs was born into a family of car enthusiasts near Rapid City, South Dakota. She learnt to drive as a young girl while sitting on her father’s lap and steering the wheel, on one occasion sending
Do you know someone who deserves a Life Story? Email obituaries@dompost.co.nz the vehicle into a ditch. Her greatgrandmother Nina DeBow was a peripatetic jazz pianist who became a ‘‘spokesmodel’’ for a tyre brand.
Survivors include her parents, three siblings and her partner, Terry Madden, a racing driver who was also a team-mate on the Eagle project and said he was the first person to arrive at the scene of the accident.
Combs moved to Denver after high school, intent on a career in snowboarding, but found the physical demands too great. She then attended a technical college in Wyoming, graduating with a degree in custom automotive fabrication.
After spending six months building a car from scratch with another student for a charity auction, she began to feature on TV motoring shows and was hired as a co-presenter of Xtreme 4x4, about building and customising off-road vehicles. In 2007 she suffered a serious spinal injury on the set when a piece of machinery crushed her back, requiring surgery and months of recuperation.
She left the show the next year. While
honing her speed-racing skills she made numerous appearances on other programmes, including MythBusters, the popular science show.
Combs also pursued metalworking, leather crafts and photography, drove in television commercials, helped to develop a line of welding jackets, gloves and helmets designed for women, and wrote a children’s book, Joey and the Chopper Boys (2015), about a girl who loves motorcycles. ‘‘I will try everything at least twice,’’ she said.
In 2017 she was proud to act as the first female grand marshal for the 77th annual Sturgis motorcycle rally in her home state. A family statement announced plans for a foundation in her memory that will ‘‘continue her efforts to empower women and young girls to follow their dreams’’.
Her penultimate post on social media, three days before her death, included a photograph of her standing behind the Eagle. ‘‘It may seem a little crazy to walk directly into the line of fire,’’ she wrote. ‘‘Those who are willing are those who achieve great things. People say I’m crazy. I say ‘Thank you’.’’ – The Times
‘‘It may seem a little crazy to walk directly into the line of fire. Those who are willing are those who achieve great things.’’
Jessi Combs three days before her death