Jessi Combs: The Woman Who Chased the Edge of Speed
- Belinda Guy
- Jun 1
- 5 min read
There are people who work within the limits of engineering and there are people who exist to test them. Jessi Combs belonged firmly in the second group. In this week's episode of Belinda Automotive: The Road is Ours podcast, I cover the amazing and inspiring, Jessi Combs.
She is widely known as “the fastest woman on Earth,” but that title only captures a small part of her story. Her life and career extended far beyond a single record or moment of speed. She was a fabricator, a welder, a builder, a television presenter and a motorsport competitor who consistently pushed into spaces where she was not expected to be.
Her story is ultimately about persistence, capability and the refusal to treat boundaries as permanent.
Who was Jessi Combs and what made her famous?
Jessi Combs was born in Rapid City, South Dakota in 1980. From an early age she showed a strong curiosity for how things worked and she was naturally drawn to anything mechanical. She was active and outdoorsy and she preferred learning through doing rather than observation or instruction.
She spent much of her early life building, fixing and taking things apart in order to understand how they functioned. This hands on curiosity became a defining part of her character and it shaped the direction of her life long before she ever entered a professional workshop.
Her path eventually led her to WyoTech where she studied custom automotive fabrication. She trained in welding and performance vehicle construction and began to develop her technical foundation in a structured environment.
She entered an industry that was still heavily male dominated and she did so with a practical mindset. She did not rely on recognition or permission. Instead she focused on skill development and consistency and she built credibility through repetition and work ethic.
From workshop floors to television screens
Jessi Combs’ early career in fabrication naturally transitioned into television where her technical ability and on screen presence allowed her to stand out in automotive media. She was able to communicate complex mechanical ideas while also demonstrating them in practice.
She became known for her work on Xtreme 4x4 which formed part of Spike TV’s Powerblock programming. In this role she spent several years building off road vehicles and demonstrating fabrication techniques to a wide audience.
Her television career expanded further when she appeared on MythBusters where she contributed to builds and experimental segments alongside the core team during a period when the show was at its cultural peak. She later co hosted All Girls Garage where the focus was on making automotive skills more accessible and increasing representation for women in the workshop environment.
She also appeared on Overhaulin’ and How to Build Everything and she hosted The List: 1001 Car Things to Do Before You Die. Across all of these roles she maintained a consistent identity as someone who was actively involved in engineering and fabrication rather than simply presenting it.
What motorsport did Jessi Combs compete in?
Beyond television Jessi Combs was deeply involved in motorsport and competitive racing. She participated in events such as the Baja 1000 which is widely regarded as one of the most demanding off road endurance races in the world.
She also competed in Ultra4 style racing and rally environments where vehicles are pushed through extremely harsh terrain and reliability is as important as speed.
These experiences were not symbolic appearances or media driven roles. They were physically demanding and mechanically challenging environments that required real understanding of vehicle dynamics, durability and repair under pressure.
Her involvement in these disciplines reinforced her identity as both a builder and a driver. She understood how machines were constructed and she understood how they behaved under extreme conditions.
The pursuit of speed
At the most extreme edge of Jessi Combs’ career was land speed racing which exists outside the boundaries of traditional motorsport in many ways.
She became part of the North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger project which used a jet powered vehicle based on the fuselage of an F-104 Starfighter. The machine was closer to an aircraft than a car and it represented an engineering approach focused entirely on controlled extreme velocity.
In 2013 she set a women’s land speed record at just under 400 miles per hour. This achievement placed her among the fastest drivers in history and established her position in modern land speed racing.
However her ambition extended beyond that milestone. She returned to the project with the goal of exceeding 500 miles per hour which required confronting even greater technical and physical challenges.
In 2019 she carried out a high speed attempt in the Alvord Desert in Oregon. During this run she reached speeds reported to be over 520 miles per hour. The attempt marked a historic moment in land speed history but it also ended in tragedy when she lost her life during the run.
The legacy beyond Jessi's record
After her passing Jessi Combs’ influence continued to grow and her impact was formally recognised within motorsport and engineering communities.
In 2020 she was posthumously awarded the Guinness World Records Female Land Speed Record which confirmed her place in official record history.
Her legacy also continues through the Jessi Combs Foundation which was established to support women in STEM fields, fabrication, engineering and motorsport. The foundation focuses on education, mentorship and access to hands on opportunities in technical industries.
Its purpose is not only to honour her achievements but to continue the work she believed in by supporting the next generation of women entering these spaces.
Who was Kitty O’Neil and why is she important to Jessi Combs’ story?
Jessi Combs did not emerge in isolation and her story sits within a wider lineage of women who challenged expectations in motorsport and engineering.
One of the most significant influences in this space was Kitty O’Neil who was a stuntwoman and land speed pioneer. She set a women’s land speed record in 1976 and demonstrated what was possible in extreme performance environments at a time when opportunities for women in motorsport were extremely limited.
This lineage highlights how progress in these fields is built across generations and how each breakthrough creates space for the next.
More than speed
It is easy to define Jessi Combs by numbers such as speeds, records and final achievements. However doing so would reduce a much larger and more meaningful story.
Her life was not defined only by how fast she travelled. It was defined by how consistently she entered spaces where she was not expected, how she built credibility through skill and how she used her platform to make technical automotive work more visible.
She worked across fabrication, racing, television and engineering and she brought those worlds together in a way that was rare and influential. Her legacy is not only what she achieved but what she made possible for others. She left behind momentum rather than just records.
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