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Jessi Combs, 36, dies in crash while trying to break land speed record

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jessi Combs of Long Beach, Calif., drops into the final chute before the finish line of the Smitty Built Everyman’s Challenge Race of the King of the Hammers in Lucerne Valley, Calif., in 2018.

Professional driver and TV personality Jessi Combs died in a crash Tuesday while trying to break her own land speed record, according to multiple reports. She was 36.

Combs’ North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger teammate Terry Madden confirmed today on Instagram that “we lost her yesterday in a horrific accident” and said a “proper release” on Combs’ death would come out later in the day.

“I was the first one there and trust me we did everything humanly possible to save her!!” Madden wrote of the crash that occurred around 4 p.m. in the Alvord Desert in southeast Oregon.

Madden wrote: “I have never loved or been loved by anyone as much as this amazing woman thejessicombs she was truly my unicorn and I enjoyed every single minute that I had with her. She was the most amazing spirit that I have ever or will ever know.”

View this post on Instagram

So I don’t know how to say any of this but it all needs said. I have never loved or been loved by anyone as much as this amazing woman @thejessicombs she was truly my unicorn and I enjoyed every single minute that I had with her. She was the most amazing spirit that I have ever or will ever know. 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!! I’m not ok, but she is right here keeping my going-I made her a promise that if this didn’t go well that I would make sure and do good with it, please help me with that, you are all going to see things on news please believe non of them.. we the family have drafted a release and it will come out today with more proper info, but I was just woke up by the media tracking me down and I need everyone of her true friends to do what she would want “take a deep breath, relax” and do good things with this. Please donate to nothing, I know there will be people try, we are finishing the documentary as she wished and the world will know the truth and her foundation will use those funds to do amazing things in this world and make her legacy live on properly. In the coming days her family and I will get the proper channels put together that you can then donate to that foundation but until you hear it from me wait please-I don’t want some asshole profiting off this (all ready had one try to sell us a video)… . . Love you all and thank you all for being such amazing friends to her, she dedicated her life to helping support others dreams and I promise I will continue that.

A post shared by Terry L. Madden (@terry_madden) on

In 2013, Combs became known as “the fastest woman on four wheels” after driving her jet-powered North American Eagle to a speed of 398 mph. According to Popular Mechanics, Combs has hit 483 mph in the same vehicle and was attempting to set a new land speed record at the time of the fatal crash.

In a social media post Saturday, Combs shared a photo of herself walking toward a jet car along with the caption: “It may seem a little crazy to walk directly into the line of fire … those who are willing, are those who achieve great things. People say I’m crazy. I say thank you ;)”

Among the hashtags she included in the post were #iwillgofaster, #gottabreak512, #aimingfor619 and #currentlyat483.

Motorcyle driver Valerie Thompson, known as “the fastest woman on two wheels,” tweeted Wednesday: “This hits home for me. Godspeed, Jessi Combs.”

Combs was born in Rapid City, S.D., and based out of Long Beach, Calif., at the time of her death. She graduated from WyoTech in Laramie, Wyo., with a degree in custom automotive fabrication and later became co-host of “Xtreme 4×4” on Spike TV. She left the show in 2008, soon after suffering a serious spine injury on set, but continued to make appearances on numerous shows, including the Discovery Channel’s “Mythbusters.”

“She was a brilliant & top-notch builder, engineer, driver, fabricator, and science communicator, & strove everyday to encourage others by her prodigious example,” former “Mythbusters” co-host Adam Savage tweeted. “She was also a colleague, and we are lesser for her absence.

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