HOLLYWOOD, CA - AUGUST 26:  Actress Jessi Combs  participates in the 2nd Annual Boot Ride And Rally to benefit U.S. Soldiers on August 26, 2012 in Hollywood, California.  (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
'Fastest woman on four wheels' dies trying to beat record
00:46 - Source: CNN
CNN  — 

She’s officially the fastest woman on Earth.

Race car driver Jessi Combs was posthumously awarded the fastest land speed record by a female this week when Guinness World Records posted it that it counted her speed, meaning she officially broke the record.

Combs, 39, died last year in an accident on the day of the attempt in the Alvord Desert in southeast Oregon.

Combs broke the record by clocking a speed of 522.783 mph in a jet-powered car. She’s the first person to break the record in more than 40 years, Guinness said.

Stunt driver Kitty O’Neil, who in 1976 reached 510.710 mph at the same spot, held the previous record.

CNN reached out to Guinness for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Terry Madden, Comb’s partner, wrote in a long Instagram post that he doesn’t know how to feel about the achievement, “as no record could ever be worth her not being here.”

“But it was a goal that she really wanted - and as hard as it is for me to even look at the car without crying. I’m so proud of her,” he added. “She woke up that morning to an alarm saying ‘lets make history’ and we had an absolutely amazing day.”

That run was supposed to be her last attempt at the record, Madden said on Instagram.

The accident occurred when the front wheel assembly failed as she decelerated at the end of the run, coming apart, Madden explained. Combs had done everything right.

Combs was a legend in the automotive industry. Her resume was full of firsts: the first woman to place at any Ultra4 event; the first woman to compete in The Race of Gentlemen event.

She was dubbed the “fastest woman on four wheels” in 2013 when she set a race record of 398 mph at the North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger.