'Fastest woman on four wheels' Jessi Combs killed trying to break land-speed record

Jessi Combs participates in a panel during the Discovery Communications cable television sessions at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Beverly Hills, California August 2, 2012. Photo: Reuters.

Racecar driver Jessi Combs, host of the television series “All Girls Garage,” was killed in a high-speed crash while trying to set a new land-speed record, her family said on Wednesday.

Combs, 39, was attempting to become the fastest woman on Earth when she was killed while racing on Tuesday on the Alvord Desert, a dry lake bed in south-eastern Oregon, the family said in a statement.