Haunting footage captures the final moments before Jessi Combs was killed when her jet car crashed during an attempt to break a new land-speed record in Oregon
- Haunting footage shows the moment high-speed racer Jessi Combs perished in a fiery crash in Oregon last week as she attremped to break a land speed record
- The video shows the jet-powered car Combs, 39, was driving powering through Oregon’s Alvord Desert before coming to a halt as the recording stops
- New images show the mangled wreckage of the 56-foot, 52,000-horsepower ‘jet car’ went up in flames, but it is not known whether an impact caused the blaze
- Investigators recovered the on-board computers from the wrecked North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger
- Combs, dubbed ‘the fastest woman on four wheels’, was attempting to top 512 mph, a land speed record set in 1976 by Kitty O’Neil
Haunting footage shows the moment high-speed racer Jessi Combs perished in a fiery crash in Oregon last week.
The video shows the jet-powered car Combs, 39, was travelling in powering through Oregon’s Alvord Desert as she attempted to break her own 2013 land speed record of 398mph on August 27.
The 56-foot, 52,000-horsepower ‘jet car’ went up in flames, but police have not yet said whether an impact caused the blaze.
The footage follows the North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger for just over a minute, showing a large plume of smoke as she drives at breakneck speed.
Haunting footage shows the moment high-speed racer Jessi Combs perished in a fiery crash in Oregon last week. A large plume of smoke can be seen trailing behind the 52,000-horsepower ‘jet car’ as it powers through the Alvord Desert
Jessi Combs, 39, (pictured), who was dubbed ‘the fastest woman on four wheels’, was attempting to break her own 2013 land speed record of 398mph when she crashed
It then shows Combs slowing down with the jet car then coming to a halt, before the person recording the footage stops filming in the knowledge that something has gone horribly wrong.
New images also show the mangled wreckage of the jet car, which was barely recognizable following the devastating crash.
Combs, who starred in Mythbusters, 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.
Investigators are hoping that engine and systems information stored on the computers on the Challenger could shed light on what went wrong during the crash.
The exact details of the crash have not yet been released but her family said she was surrounded by loved ones when she died.
Her family said she had been chasing her dream to become the fastest woman on Earth since 2012.
‘Combs was one of the rare dreamers with the bravery to turn those possibilities into reality and she left this earth driving faster than any other woman in history,’ they said in a statement.
Combs, dubbed ‘the fastest woman on four wheels’, broke the 398mph record in 2013 and joined the North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger team as driver that same year.
New images shows the wreckage of North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger, with just a few parts of the jet car visible following the crash
Investigators are hoping that engine and systems information stored on the computers on the Challenger could shed light on what went wrong during the crash
Just days before her death, Combs had posted on Instagram acknowledging her quest to break 512mph
She was driving the same North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger she has used in previous attempts in Tuesday’s fatal crash.
Just days before her death, Combs had posted on Instagram acknowledging her quest to break 512mph.
‘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,’ she wrote, adding the hashtags #gottabreak512 #aimingfor619.
Her grief-stricken boyfriend, Terry Madden, has opened up on social media about her heartbreaking demise on Monday.
Madden previously said he was the first one to reach Combs immediately after the accident and that he and her crew ‘did everything humanly possible to save her.’
‘Not sure how to cope. I miss my @thejessicombs so bad,’ Madden wrote on Instagram Sunday.
The 56-foot, 52,000-horsepower ‘jet car’ went up in flames, but police have not yet said whether an impact caused the blaze
An image posted by Jessi Combs on August 24 sees her team assemble as they prepare for the trip
Combs, who starred in Mythbusters, was 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
‘It’s a constant for me to be in our favorites file on my phone looking at our pictures. I decided this morning to start sharing the stories that go with these every morning.’
Alongside a black-and-white selfie of the couple dressed as mimes on Halloween last year in Las Vegas, Madden called his evening with the Mythbusters star ‘the single greatest night of my life.’
‘We had more fun than I knew it was possible to have,’ he wrote. ‘Didn’t drink a drop and on the greatest pure happiness high ever, we laughed we loved and we never said a word.’
Madden recalled playing the silent game with Combs that night, making a bet with her before leaving the room on who could go the longest without talking.
‘For five hours we never said a word, and we knew exactly what the other was thinking, the connection was so amazing,’ he said.
Jessi Combs’ boyfriend, Terry Madden (right), opened on Instagram about his most beloved memories with the late race car driver and ‘Mythbusters’ star since she died in a car wreck
He told his Instagram followers he is ‘not sure how to cope’ and that he’s constantly looking at their photos on his phone
Born in Rapid City, South Dakota, Combs had a lifelong dream to become a race car driver.
She graduated from WyoTech in Wyoming with a degree in Custom Automotive Fabrication and eventually fell into television.
She hosted various automotive shows, including Xtreme 4×4, Overhaulin’, Truck U, and Two Guys Garage.
Combs had previously also appeared as a host and builder on Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters.
Her boyfriend continued: ‘We saw all of our friends and fans and acted out together as the perfect team as if we had rehearsed it our whole life — knowing exactly what the other was thinking to talk with people.
‘It was that night and the next morning we laid and talked and realized how truly connected we were and how amazing it was we knew what the other was thinking at most times.’
In a separate Instagram post, Madden said he could not have persuaded his girlfriend to not attempt to beat her dangerous record of 483 mph.
‘I know I couldn’t have stopped her if I had tried, and she did die doing what she loved but I’d give anything to have this all be a bad dream.’
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