In a life that ended too soon, Jessi Combs was a woman who combined careers in the motor industry and in entrainment so successfully that she stood out from others in her field. She was often described as the ‘fastest woman on four wheels’ and her careers included working as a metal fabricator, a professional driver, a television personality, a brand representative, and an author. One of the main highlights of her career was becoming the land speed record holder. Unfortunately, it was an attempt to break her own land speed record that resulted in her untimely death on August 27, 2019. Here we remember Jessi Combs, the racing extraordinaire. Combs was born on July 27, 1980, in Rockerville, South Dakota. She grew up in South Dakota with her parents, three siblings, and two stepsiblings. Jessi graduated from Stevens High School before attending WyoTech where she completed several programs. These included the Collision & Refinishing Core, High-Performance Powertrain, and Steel Rod and Custom Fabrication. She completed all these programs as the top of her class.
Following her graduation, Jessi Combs and another student from her class were offered their first job by the marketing department from WyoTech. The two former students were asked to build a car from scratch and were given just six months to complete this task. The intention was for the car they created to debut at the Specialty Equipment Marketing Association’s Show. In 2004, Combs began her television career when she began hosting a series called ‘Extreme 4×4′. She hosted this show for four years before leaving in 2008 following an on-set accident. Just a year later, she returned to television when she became a replacement for Kari Byron, who was on maternity leave, for ‘Mythbusters’. Combs appeared in 12 episodes of the seventh season of this series.
2011 was a significant year in Combs’ career. First, she began recording her own AOL Autoblog Show along with co-host Patrick McIntyre. This is called ‘The List: 1001 Car Things To Do Before You Die. This is an automotive-based adventure series that has won awards, and Patrick McIntyre has continued to air new episodes of this series. Combs also became one of the hosts of the Velocity series ‘All Girls Garage’ in this year and continued to host the series until 2014. Another reason that 2011 was such a significant year in Coombs’ career as it was in this year that she began her professional racing career. Her first race was in Class 10 at SCORE Baja 1000, and she achieved the second position in this race. The next project that Jessi Combs undertook was becoming a co-host of ‘Overhaulin’ along with Chris Jacobs. This was during the time when the series was relaunched on the Discovery and Velocity channels.
Between 2013 and 2017, Combs predominantly focused on her racing career, but she began with an attempt to set the women’s 4-wheel land speed record. The previous record had been set by a woman called Lee Breedlove in 1965 and stood at 308.506 miles per hour. Combs made her attempt in the Alvord Desert on October 9, 2013. She was driving a North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger. Her official speed for the run was 398.954miles per hour, with a top speed of 440.709 miles per hour. This meant she had claimed the title o the record holder of the women’s 4-wheel land speed record. During 2014, Combs competed in multiple Ultra 4 races in various classes. She achieved a podium position in all six races and pole position in four of the events. This meant that she had really made a name for herself as a racing driver. She competed in two events in 2015, achieving first and second positions at these events, and then achieve pole position at the 2016 Ultra 4 King of the Hammers in the EMC Modified Class.
Combs wanted to break her own women’s 4-wheel land speed record, so she made another record-breaking attempt in 2016. On September 7, 2016, she drove the Other American Eagle to break her own record by achieving an official speed of 477.59 miles per hour. By this point, she had earned herself the nickname of the ‘Fastest Woman on Four Wheels’. In 2017, Jessi Combs returned to the racetrack at the Ultra 4 King of the Hammers, competing in the 4400 Class. She was less successful than her previous races and finished in just 12th position. This was the last race in which Combs competed. The following year, Combs returned to the limelight on television when she was briefly part of a panel show called ‘Break Room’ on the Discovery channel. Unfortunately, this series was short-lived, so it was not a significant element of Combs’ career. This was the last time that fans saw Combs on television.
On August 27, 2019, Jessi Combs attempted to break the women’s 4-wheel land speed record for the third time. She and her team headed to an area of desert in Harney County to make the attempt to break her own record. According to ABC News, Jessi Combs died during this record-breaking attempt in what was described as a horrific accident. Combs’ teammate Terry Madden posted a heartbreaking message about her death on Instagram the day after her death saying that she had been killed in a horrific accident. He explained that he was the first on the scene and that he and other teammates had done everything possible to try and save her. He added a montage of video clips and photographs of Jessi with her teammates to his post. Immediately before her death, Combs had also posted on Instagram. She told her fans that she was probably crazy, but she explained that people who achieve great things are those who are willing to walk directly into the line of fire. She thanked everyone for all their support. It is fair to say that she achieved great things during her lifetime, and it is a tragedy that her life ended at the age of just 39.
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