CAUSE OF DEATH DETERMINED IN JESSI COMBS CRASH

Harney County Sheriff’s Office has determined a cause of death in popular jet car racer Jessi Combs’s fatal accident on August 27 when the jet-powered vehicle she was driving crashed during a run on a dry lake bed in the Alvord Desert, located in the southeastern part of Oregon near the Steens Mountains.

Combs, 39, experienced blunt force trauma when a front-wheel apparently failed, causing her vehicle to crash at speeds what officials believe to be approaching 550 miles per hour. The car burst into flames afterward.

Combs was pronounced dead at the scene.

“Based on the evidence collected and examined at the scene of the crash and the evidence recovered by the North American Race Team it appears that there was a mechanical failure of the front wheel, most likely caused from striking an object on the desert,” Lieutenant Brian Needham said in a press release first published on Yahoo.com. “The front-wheel failure led to the front wheel assembly collapsing. The front-wheel failure occurred at speeds approaching 550 miles per hour.”

Combs was trying to break the women’s land-speed record for a four-wheeled vehicle she set nearly six years ago. That’s when she drove the North American Eagle to an average speed of 398 mph.

On the day Combs crashed, she was piloting the seven-ton North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger, a 56-foot-long streamliner. In automotive terms, its engine, in full afterburner mode, could generate the equivalent of some 45,000 horsepower.

Combs was a respected and admired motorsports figure with experience at the drag strip and with hosting responsibilities, which included television shows All Girls Garage, Overhaulin’, and a season of Discovery’s MythBusters. She was also involved in the early years of NHRA.com media with a stint on FullThrottleTV.