U.S. race car driver and television personality Jessi Combs 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 southeastern Oregon, the family said in a statement. 

“Jessi’s most notable dream was to become the fastest woman on Earth, a dream she had been chasing since 2012,” according to the statement. “Combs was one of the rare dreamers with the bravery to turn those possibilities into reality, and she left this earth driving faster than any other woman in history.” 

Terry Madden, Combs’ close friend and teammate, said in an Instagram posting: “Unfortunately we lost her yesterday in a horrific accident, I was the first one there and trust me we did everything humanly possible to save her!!” 

The details of the crash were not released. 

Combs began her career as a builder of hot-rod cars and participated in several television auto shows, including “Overhaulin’,” “Truck U,” “MythBusters” and “All Girls Garage.” 

In 2013, she broke the women's four-wheeled speed record with 398 mph (640 kph) in her jet-powered North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger.  

Her later challenge of reaching a speed of 483 mph (777kph) was abandoned, due to technical issues.  

She had chronicled her attempt to beat the 512-mile-per-hour women’s land-speed record set in 1976 by American Kitty O’Neil, who died last November. 

(With input from Reuters)