Jessi Combs: Cause of Accident That Killed 'Mythbusters' Star Revealed

New details are out in the fatal crash that killed the "Fastest Woman on Four Wheels," Jessi Combs. Combs' crashed her jet-car while trying to break her own land speed record back in August. According to a new report by TMZ, the crash was caused by her front wheel failure.

The Harney County Sheriff's Office gave the update on Combs' fateful crash. She was driving her custom jet-powered car, made for the express purpose of breaking this record. Authorities believe the front wheel assembly collapsed, likely due to hitting an object in her race across the dessert.

Police have reportedly been investigating Combs' crash since it occurred. Footage of the tragedy shows her cutting a dusty path through Oregon, but given the speed she was traveling — around 550 miles per hour — there is no way to see clearly what went wrong. To the camera, she is little more than a figure in the distance.

Combs' cause of death has already been determined to be blunt force trauma to the head, suffered in the crash. The car went up in flames after the impact, but medical experts say that Combs did not experience that.

Combs crashed back in August in Oregon's Alvord Dessert. She was trying to break her own land speed record as the "Fastest Woman on Four Wheels," which she had already done before. She had hit a speed of 398 miles per hour in 2013, and she broke that record in 2018 with a top speed of 483.2 miles per hour.

August's run may have taken Combs to even greater heights. According to a report by Autoblog, her top speed was clocked at 531.889 miles per hour. This shatters the previous all-time world record for women's land speed, which was 512.710 miles per hour. That record was set by Kitty O'Neil in 1976, in the same dessert where Combs crashed. The data from her final ride has reportedly been sent to Guinness for verification.

Combs was a jack of all trades. In addition to racing unconventional vehicles, she was known to build them, with a particular passion for motorcycles and prolonged rides. She graduated from the WyoTech Collision and Refinishing Core Program, then the Street Rod Fabrication and Custom Fabrication and High Performance Powertrain programs, at the top of all three classes.

She took this metal fabrication skill to the small screen, where she hosted, appeared on or contributed to numerous reality shows. Many were car-related, such as her show Xtreme 4x4, Overhaulin' or All Girls Garage. However, she was also willing to try her hand at different applications, and is perhaps best-known to most for her work on Mythbusters.

Combs was 39 years old at the time of her death.