“Professional driver and TV host Jessi Combs has died after crashing her jet-powered car while trying to break her own land speed record.

The 39-year-old was killed in the crash on Tuesday at about 4pm on a dry bed lake in Alvord Desert in Oregon.

Combs, dubbed the fastest woman on four wheels, was pursuing a land speed record in the North American Eagle.

The TV personality, who broke the 398mph record in 2013, joined the North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger team as driver that same year.

She managed to hit 483 miles per hour in a shakedown run on the same 13-mile course in 2016 but it ended prematurely due to mechanical issues.

Combs was driving the same North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger she has used in previous attempts…”

https://mol.im/a/7403739

This sucks badly. I met her a few times over the years through my work and she was the real deal.

That's sad news. She was a very capable fabricator. I think the first show she appeared in "Extreme 4x4" was her debut on tv. I remember her more from "Overhaulin'"

At least she died doing what she loved.

Thirty-nine. She's going to miss half of her life. I'd ask the purpose of these "land speed records", but there is no purpose to them. She could be with her family right now and for decades to come, but, no.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Thirty-nine. She's going to miss half of her life. I'd ask the purpose of these "land speed records", but there is no purpose to them. She could be with her family right now and for decades to come, but, no.

...trying to break her OWN record too.

As Para mentioned she forfeited half her life for a record that select few care about. She also left behind a family and significant other that are going to hurt for a very long time. All of this death and heartache for an adrenaline rush.

To bad. I agree, for what? But that was her decision.

Notoriety is something some are willing to die for. It is a weird concept for most.

Some just have that insatiable need.

A wasted opportunity to make a difference in others lives going forward.

Just to satisfy the need to be recognized at what she felt like was the highest level.

I remember her being on Mythbusters.

some people are born to push the envelope

RIP Ms. Combs

----------------------------

Sorry to hear. RIP.

She was a local Rapid City area gal born in 1980 (Rockerville, SD; Rapid City Stevens HS grad).

quote:

Originally posted by Sig209:
some people are born to push the envelope

...and she died doing what she love. It's a cliche festival, guys.

The only problem with pushing the envelope is, sometimes the envelope pushes back so hard, it takes your life.

Soon, we'll be able to drive 400 mph on the interstate because of this valuable research of driving like a bat out of Hell on the salt flats.

No different than any race driver or sky diver. They know the risk involved and know that death is a possibility doing something they enjoy doing. It sucks when it happens, but she died doing what she loved. R.I.P.

"She died doing what she loved"

Will you please, kindly, if it's not any trouble, look just above your post. What do you see??

PLEASE stop saying saying this horribly cliched, empty stuff. Please stop. Its incredible to me that there are people in this thread saying this- not in a comical, sarcastic or facetious way- but in earnest. You're saying with a straight face. For the love of all that's holy, please, just stop using it in a serious way. This phrase is now in the Cliche Hall of Fame and if you use it a serious way, I cannot take you seriously.
I am floored that some of you are so tone deaf that you are saying this as some kind of grand, comforting truth. I can't even find the correct words to express how incrediby silly it is that some of you are saying that old, tired, unoriginal and atomically cliched shit. You could use this trite and now meaningless phrase as fissionable material for a nuclear boredom bomb.

I, just...

Someone- some rational person, say something please. Make sense. Express an original thought which I don't have to look at three times to see if you're actually serious.

She threw away- threw away- half of her life. She took the greatest gift ever bestowed and she threw it away. This is not something to be admired. She wasn't advancing civilization. She found a gimmick which made money for her. Can you guys not accept some plain, unvarnished, unsentimental, clinical truth?

I don't have anything against this person. Before today, I was blissfully unaware if her existence. There's no emotional investment in this for me, either in her life, or her death. I am simply telling you- from one human being to another- she chose to do these things and as a result, she won't be here for the rest of her life, and it was for nothing, and saying 'she died doing what she loved' is meaningless and shoud be no kind of comfort to anyone who cared for this person.

So, they took an old F-104 Starfighter and put wheels on it? The old Witwenmacher ("The Widowmaker").

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Dying that young is just a waste. Too bad, but that's what happens when you temp the devil with your life.

H&K-Guy

There are only two mistakes in this life:

1. The one you learn from

2. The one you don't survive

Miss Combs discovered the second type.

And the cliché doesn't hold up at all. Unless what she loved was traumatic brain injury. Or a ruptured aorta, and massive internal bleeding. Or a broken neck that severed her spinal cord near the brain. These are a few of the things that can kill you at high speed; "something you love" is not on the list. I think people like to say that because it's so much more glamorous than the truth.

But I'll admit 'something they loved' has a nice ring to it. Sounds better than 'screaming in pain' or 'burning alive' or 'choking on their own blood'.

Personally, I don't want to be known for DYING doing what I loved. I want to be known for LIVING doing what I loved. And I guess I am...doing what I love, that is.

I feel badly for Ms. Combs' family and friends she leaves behind. May she RIP...

quote:

Originally posted by bigwagon:
This sucks badly. I met her a few times over the years through my work and she was the real deal.

Yep. Cute, personable, and good at wrenching and fabricating. I really enjoyed watching her on a couple Velocity Channel shows. May god bless her and her family.

quote:

Originally posted by petr:
No different than any race driver or sky diver. They know the risk involved and know that death is a possibility doing something they enjoy doing. It sucks when it happens, but she died doing what she loved. R.I.P.

I agree. Not a cliche at all. Truth. Its a cliche for those who want the quick label, don't get it and want to justify their approach to life.

A person could do a lot worse. Our species is advanced by the human spirit pushing the boundaries.

Some people by choice live a life of safety and security. Cubicle life and couch sitting. Same day to day routine. Read about it in the newspaper. They take the safe route and that's what they call life. Others don't. I certainly won't judge them for that.

Seafarers. Mountain climbers. Skydivers. Cave explorers. Astronauts. Deep sea divers. Etc.

Hats off to them.


---------------------------------------

quote:

Originally posted by Sig209:
I agree. Not a cliche at all. Truth. Its a cliche for those who want the quick label, don't get it and want to justify their approach to life.

This is not open to negotiation. You're going to stop saying this stupid shit in this forum. I've had enough of the rationalizations and cliched nonsense. End of story.

We can just have an end to these threads altogether if that's what it takes, but whatever it takes, this hackneyed bullshit is going to cease.

You want to talk about trying to justify an approach to life? Uh uh. That's what the "she died doing what she loved" crowd is doing. The emotional investment and sentimentality on the subject is yours, not mine. I'm looking at this from outside of the hero worship, unlike you.