RIP Jessi Combs: the fastest woman on four wheels

Iain Kelly

Contributing Journalist

1 min read

Jessi Combs has tragically passed away at the age of 36 while attempting to break her land speed record of 641km/h (398mph).

The professional racer and former Mythbusters TV host crashed her jet-powered car on Tuesday during a high-speed run.

Combs was well-known as a TV host and professional racer, but she was also a deeply talented metal fabricator and engineer, a noted motorcycle enthusiast, and a champion of encouraging women to engage in what were seen as typically male pursuits. 

She was also renowned for her motivational approach to life and her charity work.

Combs is survived by her partner, who was there on the fateful run and rendered assistance after the crash.

Iain Kelly

Contributing Journalist

A love of classic American and European cars drove Iain Kelly to motoring journalism straight out of high school, via the ownership of a tired 1975 HJ Holden Monaro.  For nearly 20 years he has worked on magazines and websites catering to modified late model high-performance Japanese and European tuner cars, as well as traditional hot rods, muscle cars and street machines. Some of these titles include Auto Salon, LSX Tuner, MOTOR, Forged, Freestyle Rides, Roadkill, SPEED, and Street Machine. He counts his trip to the USA to help build Mighty Car Mods’ “Subarute” along with co-authoring their recent book, The Cars of Mighty Car Mods, among his career highlights.  Iain lends his expertise to CarsGuide for a variety of advice projects, along with legitimising his automotive obsession with regular OverSteer contributions. Although his practical skills working on cars is nearly all self-taught, he still loves nothing more than spending quality time in the shed working on his project car, a 1964 Pontiac. He also admits to also having an addiction to E30 BMWs and Subaru Liberty RS Turbos, both of which he has had multiple examples of. With car choices like that, at least his mum thinks he is cool.
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