MythBusters star Jessi Combs died from an unexpected car accident on August 27, and family, friends, and fans alike have shared their love in social media posts. Combs’ boyfriend and teammate, Terry Madden, had confirmed her death after being the one to find her after the fatal accident. Combs, known as “the fastest woman on four wheels,” died while trying to best her own driving speed record, and Madden has since taken to Instagram to post photos and memories to honor the late professional racer.
The death of a loved one is always hard, and the grieving process is different for everyone. For Terry Madden, it seems that posting emotional tributes to Jessi Combs on Instagram is how he needed to “start sharing the stories” to go along with the memories that others are sharing, which is helping him cope. It’s also giving their followers a sneak peek into what their lives were like together, and having fans being a part of that seems incredibly therapeutic. Madden shared a Halloween memory from last year about the former MythBusters star, when they'd gone to Vegas and made a pact to go without speaking, which Madden believes brought them closer together.
Halloween last year @semashow in Vegas. We made a bet before leaving the room on who talked first. For 5 hours we never said a word, and we knew exactly what the other was thinking, the connection was so amazing. We saw all of our friends and fans and acted out together as the perfect team as if we had rehearsed it our whole life - knowing exactly what the other was thinking to talk with people. It was that night and the next morning we laid and talked and realized how truly connected we were and how amazing it was we knew what the other was thinking at most times.
Check out that post below, complete with mime makeup.
In another post, Terry Madden posted about a specific hashtag he shared with Jessi Combs to cue up memories of times when they would do something “epic” together. Such as trying to watch the sun rise over what they thought was the Grand Canyon, with Madden getting erroneously overconfident about their whereabouts.
About this time we walk right up to the rim in the dark of the NOT SO GRAND CANYON about 2’ deep 2’ wide ditch with a small stream running thru it ????. I’m embarrassed bad - zoom map out and realize giant blue river line opposite direction from camp and this is tiny stream... she laughed and laughed and we laid on ground and watched the stars and fell asleep on top of my jacket beside the not so Grand Canyon. We woke up just before sunrise and ran back to truck, grabbed a blanket she was freezing and on to the real Grand Canyon, watched the sunrise and hauled ass.......@thejessicombs was so magic at turning a mistake into a possibility!
There are likely plenty of couples out there whose relationship might have taken a wrong turn after such an ordeal, but it seemingly only brought Jessi Combs and Terry Madden closer. Check out the whole story in the post below.
Terry Madden also shared a lovely story about a time when he and Jessi Combs were meant to take the stage for an awards ceremony, only to get doused by a big wave a few minutes ahead of time. Combs, feeling no pressure, simply dunked her head and hair into a nearby beach bar's beer trough to get the sand out, and then took the stage to accept their award as if nothing troublesome had occurred.
Jessi Combs appeared on MythBusters for 12 episodes starting in 2009, prior to the Discovery Channel’s cancelation of the series in 2016. She also appeared on other shows such as Overhaulin’ and Xtreme 4x4. On the day of her death, she was attempting to break her own land-speed record.
Though we lost the MythBusters star too soon, Jessi Combs filmed a movie called Interviewing Monsters and Bigfoot prior to her death, and the film will pay tribute to the late racer when it gets released on September 13.
