Police Investigating Computers On Board Jessi Combs' Jet Car During Fatal Crash

Police are investigating the computers that were on board Jessi Combs’ jet car during the fatal crash at Alvord Desert in Oregon. The racer died while attempting to break her own land speed record.

Officials told the New York Post on Wednesday that attempts were being made to recover the computers that were on board Combs' 56-foot-long, 52,000-horsepower, jet-powered car, which was called the North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger, in a bid to understand what went wrong.

“There was a fire involved,” Lt. Brian Needham of the Harney County Sheriff’s Office told the Post. However the investigators are not sure if it was the crash that caused the blaze or something else. They were waiting for the information from the computers to reach a definitive conclusion.

“They’re waiting for the team to recover the [engine and systems] information stored on the inboard computers,” Needham said.

Combs, who was dubbed “the fastest woman on four wheels” set the land speed record in 2013 by driving her North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger at 393 miles per hour. She later broke that record in 2018 by hitting 483.2 mph in a shakedown run.

Combs, 36 then, crashed while attempting to break her own record, by going nearly at 500 mph through a dry lake bed at Oregon’s Alvord Desert on Tuesday.

Her friends and acquaintances posted emotional messages about her on social media after her passing. Combs, whose resume included a lot of firsts, was dedicated to women’s empowerment in a male-dominated automotive industry.

Valerie Thomson, also known as the “fastest woman on two wheels”, expressed her grief on Twitter posting pictures of both of them together.

Combs’ boyfriend Terry Madden posted a tribute to her on Instagram, calling her the most amazing spirit that he will ever know.

“So I don’t know how to say any of this but it all needs said. I have never loved or been loved by anyone as much as this amazing woman @thejessicombs she was truly my unicorn and I enjoyed every single minute that I had with her. She was the most amazing spirit that I have ever or will ever know,” he wrote.

Combs was also a co-host on “Xtreme 4×4” and “Mythbusters.”

Eerily, she had spoken about the risks of land speed racing in a tweet on Aug. 24.

“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 said in the post.