Police Just Revealed The Cause Of 'Mythbusters' Jessi Combs' Fatal Jet Car Crash
Fans of Jessi Combs, 36, were shocked this summer when "the fastest woman on four wheels" died in a jet car crash. The Mythbusters host was attempting to break her own land-speed record in the Alvord Desert in southeast Oregon when the fatal accident occurred. Now, the cause of that crash is finally being revealed by police.
According to Harney County Sheriff's Office in Oregon, one of Jessi's vehicle's front wheels failed during her run. The failure was "most likely caused from striking an object on the desert," investigators said, per Road & Track. Jessi's car was moving nearly 550 miles per hour at the time, which was too fast to recover from the issues. She died of blunt force trauma, the sheriff’s office said.
When she crashed, Jessi was driving the same North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger that she used to set the land-speed record back in 2013 at 398 mph (with a top-speed run of 440 mph), according to her website. The vehicle is a reconfigured F-104 jet with 52,000-horsepower and measures 56 feet long. Jessi and her team were aiming to top 512 mph, the current Women’s Landspeed World record set in 1976 by Kitty O’Neil, to become the Fastest Woman on Earth.
Jessi competed in prestigious, long-distance off-road races, including the Baja 1000 in Baja California, Mexico, and King of Hammers in the desert of Johnson Valley, California. In 2016, she earned another nickname, "Queen of Hammers," with a first place finish at the King of Hammers, per Ultra4Racing.
Jessi wasn’t "just" a racer. She also created a line of women's welding gear, hosted Mythbusters, and was a regular guest on Overhaulin’, All Girls Garage. Since her passing, The Jessi Combs Foundation has been created, which is an organization "dedicated to educating, inspiring and empowering the next generation of female trailblazers and stereotype-breakers," according to Jessi's website.
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