US race car driver and television personality Jessi Combs has been killed in a crash while attempting to set a new land speed record.
Combs’ family confirmed that she had died in a crash in a jet-powered car in south-east Oregon, but further details were not immediately released.
In a statement, the family said they remembered her “bright smile [and] positivity”.
Combs, 39, had been dubbed the “fastest woman on four wheels”.
She earned the title in 2013 when she reached 398 mph (641km/h). Combs was trying to beat that speed and the absolute women’s land speed record of 512 mph (824km/h) – set by Kitty O’Neil in 1976 – when she crashed.
“Jessi’s most notable dream was to become the fastest woman on Earth, a dream she had been chasing since 2012… and she left this Earth driving faster than any other woman in history,” her family said.
