Occurred at speeds near 550 mph
Jessi Combs’ fatal high-speed crash was caused by “a mechanical
failure of the front wheel, most likely caused from striking an object
on the desert,” according to the Harney County Sheriff’s Office in
Oregon. This information comes to us two months after Combs’ tragic
accident on the dry lake bed of the Alvord Desert. Combs was 39 years
old.
The investigation concluded that the front wheel failure “led
to the front wheel assembly collapsing.” The sheriff's department says
this happened at speeds approaching 550 mph. Both the Harney County
Sheriff’s Office and the North American Eagle Race Team collected
evidence from the scene to come to this conclusion.
Her cause of
death was determined to be blunt force trauma to the head, which
happened before the vehicle was engulfed in flames. No other official
information regarding the crash was released.
Combs was an extremely well-known racer, fabricator and a longtime host of Autoblog’s
“The List” video series, and it is with heavy hearts that we convey
this news to you today. The sheriff’s office concluded its release by
passing on “its condolences to the family of Jessi Combs and the North
American Eagle Race Team."
