2019 augusztusában halálos balesetet szenvedett egy sebességrekord megdöntése közben Jessi Combs. Egy évvel később kiderült, hogy Combs megdöntötte a világrekordot.

2019. augusztus 27-én Jessi Combs megkísérelte megdönteni a női szárazföldi sebességrekordot az Oregon államban található Alvord-sivatagban - írja a BBC.
A kísérlet közben, az akkor 39 éves Combs halálos balesetet szenvedett.Azonban közel egy évvel a tragikus esemény után a Guinness hitelesítette a kísérletet, és 40 év után megdőlt a női világcsúcs:
A sugárhajtású autó 841,338 km/órás sebességgel haladt.

A baleset előtti pillanatok:

Az előző rekordot még 1976-ban állította fel Kitty O'Neil.

Bár a rekord megdőlt, ezek ellenére a nő társa szomorúan emlékezett meg Instagram-oldalán, azt írta, hogy nincs rekord, amely megérné, hogy ne legyen itt.

A bejegyzés megtekintése az Instagramon

#rememberthetime I was woke up Monday by a reporter from the London Times telling me that @guinnessworldrecords would be releasing today that @thejessicombs had officially broke her world landspeed record. I really don’t know how I feel about this at all as no record could ever be worth her not being here, but it was a goal that she really wanted - and as hard as it is for me to even look at the car without crying. I’m so proud of her. She woke up that morning to an alarm saying “lets make history” and we had an absolutely amazing day. On the morning run she broke her previous top speeds and we went back to the trailer and had a long heart to heart - she had a few things that were bothering us safety wise and I told her I would support her no matter what she decided to do. That afternoon we booked a house in Lake Tahoe for the next night, and she decided she was going to run that one last afternoon run to back up her record and then walk away from it for good and let her back up driver go for the overall world record instead of her. That was to be the last time she ever got in that car. It has torn me apart that all I had todo is say let’s go and we would have left before that run, she asked my opinion and I told her Togo for it if it was what she wanted. That conversation has torn me apart everyday since the accident. . On her final record run- the front wheel assembly failed and as she decelerated just past the end of the run, it came apart and went up into the electronics/mechanical bay behind her seat and caused the accident. There was nothing that she could do and she did everything perfect. I don’t know that this is anyone’s business and it has been hard for me to talk about, but I have been asked about several false narratives lately that she had done something wrong and I can’t live with anyone saying that anymore. I was in the safety vehicle beside her as she was slowing down when the accident happened, I watched the accident live as well as the onboard footage that was recovered. I can 100% tell you beyond any doubt that she did everything exactly as she was supposed to. . #missyababe #myjessi #landspeed #jessicombs #worldrecord #guinness

Terry L. Madden (@terry_madden) által megosztott bejegyzés,

A rendőrség vizsgálata szerint mechanikai hiba okozta a balesetet, az első kerék vélhetően azért tört ki, mert nekiütközött valaminek. A baleset ráadásul a csúcssebesség környékén történt.Combs a balesetben halálos fejsérülést szenvedett, de emellett a jármű ki is gyulladt.