Aug. 28 (UPI) — Jessi Combs, a former “Mythbusters” host dubbed the “fastest woman on four wheels,” died in a jet car crash while trying to break her own record in Oregon, local law enforcement said Wednesday. She was 36.
Officials pronounced Combs, of California, dead Tuesday at the scene of the crash in Alvord Desert, about 90 miles south of Burns, Ore., the Harney County Sheriff’s Office said.
Her partner, Terry Madden, said he was the first person on the scene of the crash.
“Trust me, we did everything humanly possible to save her,” he said in an Instagram post.
His post indicated the two were working to create a documentary, which he said he plans to finish “as she wished.”
Combs belonged to the North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger team, with which she set the record for fastest woman on four wheels in 2013 at 398 mph. She was attempting to break that record Tuesday when she crashed.
She appeared multiple times on Discovery Channel’s “Mythbusters,” a science-based show that tested legends, myths, rumors and the reality of movie scenes. The show ran from 2006 to 2016.
Former “Mythbusters” co-host Adam Savage mourned Combs’ loss in a Twitter post Wednesday morning.
“I’m so so sad, Jessi Combs has been killed in a crash. She was a brilliant & too-notch builder, engineer, driver, fabricator, and science communicator, & strove everyday to encourage others by her prodigious example. She was also a colleague, and we are lesser for her absence,” he wrote.
In addition to “Mythbusters,” she also co-hosted Spike TV’s “Extreme 4×4,” and appeared on TLC’s “Overhaulin'” and the Science Channel’s “How to Build … Everything.”
The Discovery Channel issued a statement saying employees there and at MotorTrend were sad to learn of her death.
“She was a friend and colleague, an icon in the industry, and an undeniable force of nature who left an indelible mark on the car world. Our thoughts are with her family and loved ones,” the statement read.
