Jessi Combs Fatal Crash: Police Recover Computers From ‘Jet Car’

Oregon police have successfully recovered on-board computers from the jet car driven by renowned racer Jessi Combs following the fatal Tuesday crash that resulted in her death at the age of 36. Authorities investigating the crash are hoping that engine and systems information stored on the computers will help determine what led to the fatal accident as Combs was attempting to break her own land-speed record.

“The team was able to recover the on-board computers and they’re attempting to get the data off of them, but that has not been recovered yet,” Lt. Brian Needham of the Harney County Sheriff’s Office confirmed in a statement to the New York Post.

The successful retrieval came just hours after Needham told the outlet that authorities were “waiting for the team to recover the [engine and systems] information stored on the inboard computers.” At the time, he also confirmed that an investigation was ongoing and that “there was a fire involved” in the crash, though it remains unclear whether the fire was sparked due to Combs’ vehicle hitting something.

Combs had been piloting the North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger, a jet car that is described as an “idea “to take a jet fighter, and turn it into the fastest racing machine in history,” on the afternoon of Tuesday, Aug. 27 when the accident occurred. Driving at an extremely high speed, the crash has been described “equivalent to an airplane crash.”

The sole person aboard the vehicle, Combs was the only fatality.

Combs’ boyfriend, Terry Madden, was there when the crash occurred, recounting the tragic moment when confirming her death in an Instagram post shortly after.

“Unfortunately we lost her yesterday in a horrific accident, I was the first one there and trust me we did everything humanly possible to save her!!” he wrote in part. “I’m not ok, but she is right here keeping my going-I made her a promise that if this didn’t go well that I would make sure and do good with it, please help me with that, you are all going to see things on news please believe non of them.”

At the time, she had been attempting to break her own land-speed record. Dubbed the “fastest woman on four wheels” after setting a record of 398 mph in her jet-powered North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger in 2013 and then piloting that same vehicle to a speed of 483.227 mph in 2018, Combs had been hoping to one day reach a speed greater than 512 mph.