Investigators from the Harvey County
Sheriff's Office said Monday that a mechanical failure at high speeds
caused the crash that killed racer, reporter, and show host Jessi Combs on
Aug. 27, 2019.
"Based on the evidence collected and examined at the scene of the
crash...it appears that there was a mechanical failure of the front wheel,
most likely caused from striking an object on the desert," investigators
wrote in their report. TMZ first reported on the investigators' findings.
The one-page report from investigators is brief and doesn't specify what
the object was that Combs' struck in her jet-powered car. Combs was
driving the car near Fields, Oregon, at the Alvord Desert and attempting
to set a land-speed record.
Investigators determined that Combs died due to blunt-force trauma caused
by the crash. A fire quickly engulfed the jet-powered car after the crash.
Combs was 39, and her TV credits include "Mythbusters," "All Girls
Garage," and "Overhaulin'".
It is believed that her speeds during the
tests prior to her fatal accident were fast enough to qualify her for
posthumous record holding, for fastest times in the Guiness Book of World
Records.
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