The Crash Killed Her, but She Got Her Record

Jessi Combs was killed in a horrific crash last year—but the professional racer and Mythbusters star known as Earth's "fastest woman on four wheels" achieved the world record she was trying to set. Guinness World Records announced this week that Combs had been awarded the record for fastest land speed by a female, the BBC reports. Combs was trying to beat the prior record of 512.7mph set by US stuntwoman Kitty O'Neil in 1976 when she died last August; it's now official that Combs did indeed hit 522.783mph before crashing. Both women were driving jet-powered vehicles when they set their records.

In an Instagram post, her partner, Terry Madden, recounts how the fatal attempt was to be Combs' last run in the vehicle before she called it quits. "I really don’t know how I feel about this at all as no record could ever be worth her not being here, but it was a goal that she really wanted," he writes. "And as hard as it is for me to even look at the car without crying. I’m so proud of her. She woke up that morning to an alarm saying 'lets make history' and we had an absolutely amazing day." (Here's what caused the crash.)