All language subtitles for The.Fastest.Woman.on.Earth.2022.720p.WEB.h264-KOGi-English

Comm, video check, please.

Copy.
Loud and clear.

Attention down on track.

Gimme a wind check down there.

About mile 4 here,
we have a consistent wind,

probably about 10 miles an hour
or so.

We still got some good gusts
down here

and they're 8, 9.

So, this would be my first
run out this whole week.

It's time to get suited up,
Jessi.

Alright!
I'm on my way.

If it's feeling good,
yeah, I'll push it,

but I'm not gonna go for 550
to 600 on this run.

Maybe still 400.

Which is still so crazy
to think about.

Data to comm.

Do we have the rock pickers
clearing the course?

Rock crew is at the 7.5,
working to the 8,

and I got crew coming back.

Range 3 to comm.

We're in position
at mile marker 3.

Driver Jessi has
entered the cockpit.

And let's go ahead
and bring the air on now.

Information prestart checklist
is in progress.

Information.
The canopy is down and locked.

Hey, this is mile zero.

Are we ready down 4?

Mile 4 clear.

Mile 5 clear.

Mile 6 clear.

Mile 7 clear.

Is this 37?

Alright, Take 37.
Marker.

It's a loaded question.

For the most part, I'm just
a normal girl, you know?

But I live a life that's risky.

I don't live a normal everyday.

I had a desk job once.

It lasted six months

because I don't know how to be
something I'm not.

And, when it comes to cars,
when it comes to driving,

I think it's
what I was born for.

Hey, guys. Sorry I haven't
posted in a while.

It's been super crazy-busy.

I forgot what I was going
to say.

Hey, guys. Sorry I haven't
posted in a while.

It's been super crazy-busy,
lots going on.

I am going to be driving all
1,134.4 miles of the Baja 1000.

Only a couple other women
have ever attempted this before,

so I'm pretty special.

I'm special.

Jesus.

It's now 12:44 in the morning.

You'd think
I would have this done.

You would think, after 15 years
of being on television,

that I would have this shit
figured out by now.

Jessi is someone
that has two sides to her.

One side is what I think
the general public sees,

which is a very easygoing,
carefree person.

The other side to that is
someone

who sees something they want

and they do everything they can
to make that happen.

If I'm tired now,

what does this mean
for the 1000?

But to actually be around
and work with someone like that,

it's exhausting.

Jessi and I hosted
a show together.

It was called...

And this was everything
from simple stuff

to the most outrageous things.

Gently, left, left, left,
left, left!

You could tell like,
when she was super comfortable,

she was very confident.

But she's a person
who puts on a public persona,

so, when she's not
super comfortable,

she's just as scared
and just as nervous as I was.

Feel my pulse.

Yeah.

And she lives
in a specific world

which is male-dominated

and she dealt with a lot of shit
from that side.

I think, finally,
after all these years,

the men are starting
to believe that,

"Hey, you know, she actually

knows what she's talking about."

But I am in a man's world.
I work around men every day.

All my friends are men
because I am very passionate

about driving and racing
and building

and that's what I am.

So, as far as being a woman
in a man's world,

it doesn't really bother me,
as long as they allow me

to be a woman in it.

5, 4...

...3, 2, 1.

Go, go, go.

Fuck yeah. We're having fun,
motherfuckers. Aah!

With Ultra4 Racing,
I'm still the only female

to podium finish.

So I've won.

Like I've beat hundreds
of dudes,

but I went down to the Baja 1000
seven times

before I actually got
the opportunity to race.

And so I have to push harder.

I have to prove more.

I have to do things bigger,
better.

You're amazing!

You're so damn good!

And it's like I knew
I could do it

and that's what keeps me going,

is knowing that I have
what it takes to win.

Jessi Combs, everybody.

- Yeah!
- Alright!

Those are some of the most
epic moments of my life.

The cards that have been
dealt to me

are pretty fricking awesome.

But it's like I come home
and it's kind of like

a standstill.

That's my selfish part of me,

because I need
to fill that void.

And it doesn't matter
how many tools you get out

and how many things
you want to start creating

and you try and fill that void,

but you're not gonna be
able to do that again

until the next adventure.

Jessi!

Hi!

Are you crying?

Why?!

Aww, sweetie.
- Thank you.

I love you.

Mom doesn't know I'm here yet.

- Oh, you're welcome.
- Hi, Mom.

Shit!

Yeah, again.
- Oh, my God!

Oh, my God.

Oh, you're crazy.

When she comes home,
it's precious when that happens

because she's so busy.

You know, from day one,
Jessi has been a goal setter,

from even as a little girl,
never fearful of anything,

with a few tickets
in her pocket.

Damn it!

How does this
always happen to me?

I don't know.

A few accidents in her pocket

and maybe
Mom would never notice.

That's what she said one day

and I thought
that was hysterical.

There's cat scratches
on the top of my car

as she went
under a barbed-wire fence.

"Oh, Mom won't notice."

Yes! I made it!

There's only one speed...

not fast enough.

But I remember the day
that she said to me that,

"I need to show you this video."

And she goes, "I need you to pay
attention to this

because I'm going
to drive that car."

And Mom starts getting
this hyperventilation going on.

And it was like, "Oh, my gosh!

This is really happening."

Fighter planes have
long been known

for their speed in the air,

but this one may soon be known
for its speed on the ground.

A group of men in Pierce County
are converting

an old F-104 fighter plane
into what they hope will be

the world's fastest car.

Oh, I think it's a thrill.

It'd be like being
the guy picked

to be the first
to summit Mount Everest.

Ed Shadle is the car's driver,

the man who'll be
behind the wheel

of the North American Eagle,
as it's called,

going 800 to 900 miles per hour.

At my age,
there are a lot of guys

who are already retired
and they're done.

They're laying on the couch,
watching television

for the rest of their life
and waiting to die.

That isn't the way I feel
about life.

My name is Ed Shadle,
principal owner and driver

of the North American Eagle.

The initial goal
for this project

really started back in the '90s,

when, you know, Andy Green went
out and set that record in '97.

The British team has established

a supersonic land speed record

in the Nevada desert.

The RAF pilot Andy Green,

driving the thrust
supersonic car,

broke the sound barrier
on Monday.

Andy Green and ThrustSSC
have just set

the first ever supersonic
land speed record.

It's human nature to push back
the bounds of what is possible,

what has been achieved,
in the same way

that people want to,
for the first time ever,

to climb Everest,
to go supersonic in the air,

to walk on the moon.

Today, for the first time ever,

we created a car
and made it supersonic,

something that humankind
has never done before.

The British came along
and went supersonic, okay?

That's a whole different chapter
in the physics books.

When the car
is driven subsonically,

it compresses the air
in front of it.

At the speed of sound,
the air parts suddenly,

causing a shock wave
and a sonic boom.

- Get going!
- Go, go!

Go! Go, go!

Congratulations for Andy Green,

whose average speed
over a measured mile

was clocked
at 763 miles an hour.

At the time we thought, "Man,

anybody that'd try
to break that is crazy."

And I don't know
if Ed came up with it,

but we both agreed that,
if we could find

a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter,

maybe we could convert it
into a land speed car.

As crazy as that sounds, okay?

The beauty of the aircraft is
that you got a wind chill

that's good at Mach 2.8.

It has a perfect inlet geometry.

The aircraft itself is only

about this much in diameter
bigger than the engine,

so you couldn't design
anything smaller.

And what allow the F-104
to go supersonic was

a turbo jet engine that had
an afterburner producing

over 18,000 pounds of thrust.

So, how were a couple of guys
from Seattle going

to improve on that?

Well, it took me about a year
to find an F-104,

in an aircraft junkyard
back in Maine.

It was a mess!
It just looked nasty!

And I can't believe we paid
25 grand for this thing.

But Ed started taking the paint
off of the vehicle.

The numbers started to start
coming through that last layer

and it said FG,
for fighter group,

and then 763.

The world land speed record is
763 miles an hour.

Now, we think there's divine
intervention involved.

The next thing you know,
you've gathered other people

on your team that are like you,

you know,
the same mission in mind.

History in the making.

- Absolutely.
- Hear, hear.

800 miles an hour, people.

Yes, sir.

It'd be nice, someday,
if somebody gave us some money

to help us.
That'd be great.

But, so far, you know,
we're making it, you know,

one nickel at a time.

One thing I want to point out
is this is a hobby.

It has turned
into a million-dollar hobby.

It's something that we do
after work and on weekends.

From the beginning,

we were looking
for a female driver

and we were looking
for a female driver

for a couple different reasons.

We were looking for somebody
that could

bring attention to the project.

There was no doubt about that.

We were looking for somebody
that could help us.

I remember the first time
we met Jessi.

She had a whole new audience,
people that were following her

and her King of Hammers
and her off-road and Baja stuff,

plus her TV stuff
that she was doing.

Hello, everybody, and welcome
to "All Girls Garage."

You could tell that she was
in total command...

...and she had stage presence.

And Ed and I are about 40 feet
outside the restaurant.

We turn to each other and say,
"We got to get her."

When I was introduced
to Jessi, I says, you know,

"We'd like to make you
the number one candidate,

but you have
to pass some tests."

And so there are some things
we had her do

which probably were
a little unusual.

I sent her up with a friend
in an open cockpit biplane

and did an hour's worth
of aerobatics

to see if he could
make her throw up

and she didn't.

She, in fact, had a lot of fun.

Took her to the
Bonneville Salt Flats,

put her in a highboy roadster,
had her run out there.

She did like 178 miles an hour.

And it was like,
"No big deal."

She'd make someone a really good
fighter pilot.

When Jessi came up to do
the engine test that first time

and put it into full afterburner
and it jerked up on the chain...

...she basically said,
"Where do I sign?

Because I want to do this.

I want to be part of this."

The instructions we gave her
right out of the box was

not to go into afterburner

and don't go over
100 miles an hour

and so she did that.

She did everything
we asked her to do.

She got out of that car
and she was mad at us

and she looked at me
and she goes,

"My damn Jeep goes faster
than that."

And I just said, "I get it."

And then she went out
and pulled off

250 miles an hour.

Then she pulled off
280 miles an hour.

These are on back-to-back rounds

and she went and did this stuff.

Our short-term goals
for this vehicle this week is,

one, get the record
for Jessi Combs

on being the world's
fastest woman on four wheels.

That record was set
by Lee Breedlove in 1965.

She did a two-way average
of 308 miles per hour

in a four-wheel jet car.

Second is the overall
women's record.

It was set by Kitty O'Neil,
at 512 miles an hour in 1976,

in a three-wheel rocket car.

That is the record now.

That's the new land speed
record for women.

We're gonna go faster.
She wants to go faster.

To get the record,
you have to go

over a measured mile

and do the return run

over the same measured mile

and then average the two runs.

Then we have to gather
all that data with witnesses,

present that to the authorities,
and then they say,

"Yes, you did it."

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

She's good to go,
as long as the car's good to go.

I have to trust myself.

The moment I start
doubting myself

is the moment I'm gonna fail,

the moment something's going
to go wrong.

I have to trust myself.

I don't think
I really have a choice.

We don't think about that.

But there's still that factor
that lingers.

I mean, it's like, you know,

I'm young
and I have a living will.

I don't think people my age
think about those things.

Truly,
the worst-case scenario is

the car wrecks.

We know the ultimatum there.

There's no surviving.

Once that car leaves,

then all of us have the freedom
to chase down that lake bed.

And so, here we are,
flying as fast as we can.

in our vehicles
that usually govern out

at 100 or 110 miles an hour.

Of course, the whole time
Nina and I are in there,

we're hoping, when we get to the
other end of the lake bed,

that there's not a pile
of red rubble there.

It felt amazing.

It was the coolest feeling I
think I've ever had in my life.

Ooh!

I was gonna say.

- Don't tell us.
- No?

Seriously, I knew it was.

What was the number?!

- Ah, that feels so good!
- Ooh!

Well, what's the number?

- Yeah, baby!
- Give it to 'em.

440.4.

Jessi Combs, known as the

fastest woman on four wheels.
- The fastest woman

on four wheels.
- We know she was driving

her jet-powered car

440 miles per hour.

I've beat a record,
now I just have to turn it in

and there's still
another record out there,

which is that 512,
so this is just baby steps

to go on to the bigger,
better things.

It was probably one
of the best rides

I've ever had in my entire life

and I'm gonna keep going faster.

That's the best part about this.

This is so rad.

- Fastest woman in the world.
- Oh, I love you.

She's a natural.

She knows that it's her calling.

Yes! Aaah!

She's always been
pretty fearless

and we knew that pretty early on
because, before she was one,

her uncle and I would throw her
across the kitchen

and she would just laugh
and giggle.

She just had
the time of her life.

And, you know, most kids
would've just freaked out,

but not Jessi.

She was always hiding,
missing in action.

There were days
I couldn't find her.

We lived in this mobile home
and there was a box

sitting on the stairway
like this,

and I had passed it three
or four times.

She was curled up
in that box, sound asleep.

There's kind of that little
mischievous stuff behind her

of, "Yeah, I'm gonna have
a little fun and do it my way

and this is gonna turn
into a good story."

We both loved the outdoors.

There would be days
when she and I

would just jump in a vehicle.

We'd drive
out to the Black Hills

and just sit out
while it was snowing.

I lived a pretty secluded life,
you know?

We didn't have Internet.

We didn't have access
to the outside world.

When I was a little girl,
I never met

any really badass women

that were doing
exceptional things

and I think that's why I started
so late in life.

As much as we loved being here,

Jessi was like ready to...

she was... she was ready to run.

"I got to get out of here.
I'm feeling stifled.

This is not where I belong."

Everything she did,
she did full-on

and, when it was time for her
to flee the nest,

she did it, and she did it big.

She was 19, I think,

met a guy in Sturgis,

went to Chicago
to live with him.

Like she had met him
at the rally.

Like, "Holy shit!

What are you doing?!"

She does spontaneous things.

That's just the way she is.

There is this desire
for her to find the right guy.

I think we all had our ideas
of what that would be, you know?

My dad was like, "He's going
to be a cowboy," you know.

"It's got to be."
You know, whatever.

I remember when she called me
up and said, "Mom,

I know what I want to do."

And I said, "What's that?"
And she goes,

"I want to build cars."

I said, "Right, right."

She gives me a call
and tells me she's going to

go to trade school at WyoTech

and I'm thinking, "Why would she
do that," you know?

I was not really for it.

It was more of a man's world,
you know?

How do girls fit
into men's worlds?

It doesn't usually turn out
really well for women.

It wasn't even a year
and a half later,

she graduated top of her class
out of 2,300 men.

I'm a rule breaker.

I'm a risk taker.

I'm a "Say I can't, say I won't,

I'll prove you wrong"
a kind of person.

I like getting things done.

I like seeing things be created.

Watch out, everybody.

We're all people that are,
by nature, problem solvers

and I think fixing and inventing
stuff that is so odd, unusual,

difficult, is probably
the reason why we do this.

I built a soapbox derby racer
when I was about 14.

Then in the '50s, you know,
get into drag racing

and running around the streets,
acting like a fool.

Then at the same time,
I was, you know,

learning how to fly airplanes.

But when I went
to the Bonneville Salt Flats

and I got involved
with racing out there,

land speed racing has been my,
you know, my main passion.

Someday, this is gonna be
the future racer.

Yeah.
Is this Grandpa's car?

That car.

- Right here.
- This Grandpa's car?

It's Grandpa's car.

Hey, Ed. It's Jessi.
How's it going?

Okay.

Really?

And, uh...

When you come out here
right now, it's dry.

But if you were here
in late December,

there'd be a foot of water
over this whole thing.

The wind blows
that water around,

smoothes out all these ruts.

All these ruts
that are out here,

these all get smoothed out
and this'll be

like a pool table
when it's done.

Okay, so, what does that mean
for our runs in September?

Well...

Okay, so, as of right now,

we are postponed
for September, then?

Yeah.

South Dakota's one
of those states.

There's not a lot out here,
you know?

It's cold. It's bleak.
It's flat.

Except for where I grew up,
which is in the Black Hills.

But outside of the Black Hills,
there's nothing.

There's nothing.
It's lots of

long, straight, boring roads.

In half a mile, turn left
onto 115th Street.

For 54 miles,
continue on 115th Street.

Fifty-four miles

on the same street.

Maybe it has something to do

with the lifestyle
that she lived

and there was a lot going on

and she just needed to get
some peace and quiet.

It was just what most
of the tenants

of the Valley Hilton Hotel

had come to L.A. to see...

a bit of Hollywood...

and, to top it all off,

none other
than Wonder Woman herself.

Actually, it was not the TV
show's star, Lynda Carter,

but the famous 32-year-old
stunt woman Kitty O'Neil.

This is the Mattel toy.

Do you like it?

Kitty O'Neil
has been totally deaf

since she was two years old,

but she hasn't let that
slow her down.

The stunt community
is pretty damn small.

Back then, it was.
Now it's huge.

There was no women
that I knew of at the time.

All of a sudden,
we got this woman

that's a heck of an athlete,
you know,

and she's deaf, on top of it,

and she's capable of doing
all these incredible things.

Are there any stunts
that you don't like to do?

You don't like motorcycles?

Uh-huh.

Too crazy.

A lot of people standing
around here

were asking themselves, "Why
does this pretty little lady

do this kind of stuff?"

Miss O'Neil says she has
no intention

of stopping
her dangerous lifestyle.

She hasn't yet decided
which record she'll break next,

but, she says,
she'll keep us posted.

Let's see
if we can get it to go.

Oh!
Oh, my gosh!

Now, this here's Kitty
in a rocket car

out in the desert at El Mirage.

Boy, I was a lot thinner
back then, too, I see.

One day I picked up the paper

and here I see about this young
lady in a land speed car

that was approaching
breaking the men's record

and, well, it just so happened

I got a car right in my shop
here I'm building.

I'm building a car to go
1,000 miles an hour.

I'm gonna see
if I can get ahold of them

and see if they'll
team up with me.

She knew that right off the bat

that I was really
gung ho about it.

And her and I,
we hit it off right away.

We set 72 state and national
and international speed records.

But, you know, when you're deaf,
you live in your own world.

And Kitty was
in her own little world.

And she trusted too many people.

She trusted the wrong people.

Who knows how far
she could have gone.

Yeah. History
would have been different.

Over the years, apparently,
she's become an alcoholic,

and she gets in these bouts
of rage when she's drunk

and she tears her house apart.

She can't go anywhere.
She can't drive.

She got three DUIs in one week.

She's 66 years old.
She's fallen apart.

Her liver is shot,
her health is fading,

which is one of the reasons
why I feel like

I need to come out here and I
need to meet her because...

there's not one other woman
out there

who could really understand
what we're all about,

which I don't even know
if I figured it out yet.

And maybe that's what I'm trying
to figure out with her.

What is it
that really drives us?

Here's her stuff.

I hear her.

Hello?

How are you? Hi.

You look lovely.

- Thank you.
- Yeah.

My gosh, you're so tiny.

Look how small she is.

I thought I was little.
You're little.

I thought I was little,
but you're little.

Look at you.

That's when you crashed, right?

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

You want to do it again?

You are crazy, aren't you?

Well, thank you
for paving the path.

Now I'm just trying
to be like you...

but faster.

What got you into
being a stunt woman?

Was it... Was it because
you're not afraid of anything?

So you don't get nervous?

No.

You don't think twice.
You just...

Okay. "This is what I have to
do, and I'm gonna do it."

Yeah.

One thing about Kitty
is she really made a mark

with, you know, deaf people.

To this day,

if they find out that I was
involved with Kitty O'Neil,

they come running
right up to me.

You've had a lot of things
that you've had to overcome.

You work harder?

Why did you stop?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Do you have any advice for me?

And I have your blessing
to break your record?

Awesome.

Okay. Thank you.

I will.

Get in there, Kitty.

She likes looking really little.

It's very rare to find somebody
that I can relate to.

Because there's this whole
other part of us

that it's not about us,
you know,

for her, it was... it was
the deaf children,

you know, to show
that there is no handicap

and they can do anything
that they set their minds to.

And for me, it's girls
and it's women to let them know

that they can go fast
and get dirty and have fun

and be just as good as the boys,
if not better,

and still at the end of the day,
be a girl.

You know, when I broke my back,
I had an opportunity to kind of

connect myself
with the rest of the world

because I built a website
and that was before social media

or anything really came around.

I freakishly had a piece
of machinery fall on me.

It burst-fractured my L3.

My doctors call me
a miracle case.

I should be in a wheelchair,

should be paralyzed
from the waist down.

And it kind of just pushed me
to try harder

and to try and be better

because I had a whole
new perspective on life.

When I started hearing
these people's stories

and the lives that I was
changing, it was amazing.

I started realizing
that the things that I was doing

was making an impact on people's
life and making a difference.

Kitty and I operate
on a very similar level

because she did it.
She lived it.

And she did it for a lot
for the same reasons.

But she was this thriving
super stunt person

that everybody knew
back in the day

to nobody knows where she is.

Nobody knows what she's doing.

It makes you wonder
what actually broke down in her.

There's a part of me
that wants to make sure

that one of my heroes
is gonna be okay

because maybe that
will give me a sense

that I'm gonna be okay.

The conditions out here
at Alvord this year

are just really very,
very nice, minimal wind.

In some cases,
it just gets dead calm

and the course is just so smooth
for the first 8 miles.

It's just beautiful.

The number-one mission
for this week of runs

is to get Jessi that record
that Kitty O'Neil holds.

We would like to put down
at least one really good,

strong run and see
if we can get it over 600.

With only 8 miles,
it's kind of questionable

whether we can actually do that.

But you don't know till you try.

I kind of like the fact
that Ed is the guinea pig

because, one, he knows the car.

He's been building this car
for 15 years,

which makes me feel way more
comfortable to be in the car

knowing that he can do it,
I can do it, for sure.

Coming out your way.
It's all you, baby.

Ed gets in a car,
makes a test run.

Right off the bat,
it goes to the left,

can't go to the right.

The steering was... was junk.

Remember, we worked on this car
for 50 weeks a year

and then we test it
for two weeks a year.

We can't just go out every week,
month or so

and check the car out.

Ready?

There was no let-down
on these guys

trying to get this thing
ready to go.

They're out here, the wind's
blowing, the sand's blowing.

I mean, everybody could have
went and gotten in a trailer

and hid out and nobody did.

I'm proud of them.

You know, as a crew chief,

I can't be anything
but proud of them.

Worried this time?

Yeah, my mom seems a little
bit more comfortable

this go-around.

Probably because I haven't
gotten in the car yet.

That's the prettiest guacamole
I've ever seen, Mom.

- Who is that girl?
- What girl?

Who's that girl?

What is this mess going on here?
You need to fix this.

Clean up.

I want this all cleaned up
by the end of the day.

See ya.

Whoo! It's hot.

My mom's job is never done.
Poor woman.

She sees me do stuff like this,

and I swear her heart
is beating out of her chest.

- Sorry.
- I'm sorry for you guys.

It's depressing.

You know, you finally
reach a point

where you don't have
the technological wherewithal

to solve the problems
in the field.

So it's time to go back home
and lick our wounds

and then solve the problem.

No, I'm praying.

I touch the car, I pray.

It just sucks that
we have to wait another year

or however long
for it to happen.

It's really difficult,
you know, how long

am I gonna have
to put my life on hold?

Like, I can't have a family

and try and break
a world land speed record.

That, all of a sudden,
makes things very real.

There's a really big period
of time

where Jessi and I
just lost touch

because I was raising a family
and she was just out living.

But I remember a time where
she just started communicating,

"I'd really like somebody
to come home to

that I can consistently
count on."

And "Am I ever gonna be a mom?
Am I... ".

You know, like,
"How can I make this work

and still keep following this
dream of mine that is running

and if I don't go with it,
I'm gonna miss that boat."

It's not as glamorous
as it seems.

It's not.

I am pulled in
a lot of different directions

between the television,
between the race teams,

between the sponsors,
between the representation,

between everything
that I'm doing.

And where is there time
for other people?

Where is there time
for, like, a real life?

Hey, guys. I know
I haven't been posting

on social media a lot lately.

I'm sorry. It's just
been ridiculously busy.

We had Babes Ride Out
last weekend,

then I went to go test
the trophy truck.

I've got SEMA next week.

It's not like I get
to come home to, like, a dog.

I would kill my dog. I just got
a fish and I'm like...

I joke about how this fish
is gonna die

within weeks, literally weeks,

because who's gonna
take care of it when I'm gone?

Who? Like who... My plants.

It's so hard for me
to keep plants alive.

You know what I named my fish?

Puppy.

So I do have a puppy.

You're gonna have to choose,
right?

It's... it's just impossible
to balance everything.

If you're going to live a life
where you are chasing adventures

and you get to do
all these wonderful things

that keep you away from home
most of the year,

you're gonna have to sacrifice

having a solid relationship
and a family.

Everybody, we're starting
the start car.

Okay.
Start sequence has begun.

My information...
we have generator working.

Okay. Information...
the canopy is down and locked.

Whoo.

Holy fuck.

Oh, my God.

Yeah, I saw that.

Both parachutes failed.

That's why I didn't
fucking stop.

Okay.

Even when I saw the bushes
coming, I was okay.

I promise.

Could you hear me?

How did you know?
Why were you freaking out?

Okay. Okay.

That was fucking scary.

I fully believe that
I experienced a miracle.

Right before the bushes,

I had to have still been going
100 miles an hour.

It literally seemed like
the hand of God just came out,

put his hand on my windshield,
and took me from 90 to nothing

in the most graceful way
possible.

You know, there was a small
fraction in there like,

"Ahh, this might be
my last day."

Like, I...
That was the first time

I think I've ever literally
thought that thought,

like "This might be
my last day."

I... I'm not afraid of dying,
but I'm not ready to die.

This is something that
I really want to die for.

You know?

Is this something
I want to die for?

That was terrifying.
It was just...

And to hear that she was scared,
she doesn't get scared.

So it was like... So I think

that's what made it scarier
for me

because it's like, "Okay,
if Jessi is scared

from what just happened today,

that means it can get
really, really bad."

There was a major shift
that we could all see

and we could all feel.

Something would have to change
in the career life

in order to make family
as profound

and beneficial as she wanted.

I don't think depression
is the right word,

but she just... She was lonely.

And it was... It was a space
that not even us as family

could have filled for her.

Hey, everybody. I just wanted
to miss you a merry Christmas.

I know this isn't always the
easiest time of year for people.

I know it's really
difficult for me,

but at least it snowed here.

Christmas was always the
hardest time of year for her

because that's
when her family split.

And so she actually would
go away on her own.

The divorce wasn't so bad

as it was just how it
all kind of came about.

It all happened at Christmas.

And so Christmas
was always bad for her. Always.

And she was 12
when that all happened.

Yeah, I guess.

I mean, you know,
I'd go out and mow the lawn

and who would be out there
traipsing along beside me?

Jess.
You know?

She liked hanging out with him,
and he absolutely adored her.

But because of the divorce

and because of moving
so far away from her dad,

there weren't nearly as many
family moments after that.

Uh, just some of the poor
decisions that were made

along the way, I guess.

Some of the stuff. Yeah.

So...

You know, I think you kind of
have this Disney-movie idea

of what true love
is supposed to be like

and how it's your prince forever

and it's always gonna be perfect
and it's not.

So she's seeking out something
that's probably unrealistic.

I don't understand why men
can go out

and live these wild
and free lives

but still be able
to attract partners.

Whereas I seem to get
these assholes

or these people
who don't fully get it.

It's like this never-ending
cycle of being

in really bad relationships
or being completely alone.

There's an old saying...

Behind every great man,
there's a woman.

Well, today,
the opposite is also true.

And for Kitty O'Neil,

the man behind the scene
is her husband,

Duffy Hambleton.

His confidence and support

has helped Kitty win many
unusual accomplishments.

The guy that she supposedly
was married to,

Duffy Hambleton...
They were not married.

Their relationship
was not very good.

I seen Duffy slap her around.

That was out there.

There was a lot of screaming
in the household.

That's one of the reasons
I moved out of that place.

Duffy was a schemer.
Duffy was a smart guy.

He was a smart criminal.

She told me that he had

$1,000,000 life-insurance policy
on her.

He was out there
to take her money away from her

and then get rid of her
at the end.

He was a bad guy.

One day we went out
to El Mirage, California.

We had a rocket-powered
Corvette,

and we were gonna have her
set a record.

But there was something going on
that I didn't know about.

Whoa! She's flying!

She's going too fast to stop!

End over end.

Wreckage is strewn everywhere.

I couldn't believe
that she crashed.

I, uh...

I didn't understand
what the h... what happened.

I couldn't believe that,
you know,

there's not a scratch on her.

I'm okay.

Kitty is alright!

Yeah.

It was fine.

I'm okay.

Kitty disappeared
after that car crashed.

And at that point,

I knew that Duffy
had something to do with it.

I mean, she feared for her life.

And even after he passed away,
she was still scared of him.

This is, like,
this mind-boggling thing

because she seems
that she's very capable,

very strong,
can handle anything.

She's tough.
Nothing seems to phase her.

And yet she lives up
in this environment

that's...

Like, it's empty
and it's lonely.

And the last thing that I want
is to end up like that.

Jessi is this enormous
energy, right?

And super independent.

That only got stronger
and stronger the older she got.

More independent,
more adventurous,

more all of those things,

which made it even harder
for a guy to be like,

"I don't know
if I can handle this package."

Right?

But there is power in that.

If you can figure out
how to culminate that strength,

it is something
that will take you far.

People will trust you.

People will know
they can rely on you.

People will turn to you.

There's just so much power
in being yourself.

Yeeeeeaaaahh!

Whoo-hoo!

First female Grand Marshal
in Sturgis...

her backyard, her hometown.

- My home.
- It is her home.

I am the Grand Marshal
of the 77th Sturgis rally.

First female
in all of its history.

For me, watching Jessi become
the Grand Marshal for Sturgis,

shatter that ceiling,
was everything.

It was everything.

You know,
it's a male-dominated thing.

You know, it's all of these men
on motorcycles.

And it didn't even occur to her
that she was a woman.

She just jumped in and thought,
"You know what? I can do this.

I'm gonna... I'm just going
to shoot in that direction."

I tried to take that whole
female factor out of it.

Fastest female on four wheels.

While I'm also in the top 10
fastest people on the planet.

But at what point
are we gonna not have

to make that determination
of, like, male, female?

As soon as I grab that throttle,

it doesn't know
if I'm a male or a female.

It's gonna react
the same exact way.

I just drive, and I drive
as fast as I can.

There's more coffee
in this coffee pot.

Alright.

We were kind of neighbors.

And I used to ride my horse
to see him.

We were only 16 and 17, too,
when we started going together.

He always wanted to be a pilot
in the Air Force

and then they put him
into crypto, into machines,

and he was really good
at that, too.

He ended up with IBM Corporation
when he got out of the service,

and he worked there
for 30 years.

When did he know he was sick
or when did I know he was sick?

Both.

About three years
before he really did get sick.

I knew it because
he was slowing down.

Cancer is a very ugly disease.

And it took 13 months for him
to really say, "I'm done."

Ed and Elaine talked.

Basically what was gonna happen

is that they would remove
the medication

that controls his blood pressure

and simply his blood pressure
would drop.

He would go to sleep
and then pass.

So I hold his hand
and tell him it's okay to...

It's okay to go, Ed.

It's okay to go.

Hey, first of all, I want to
thank everybody for coming here.

Okay?

We had some really
extraordinary circumstances

in the last, you know,
the last month,

but it's actually been going on
about a year.

Two days ago, on Friday,
Ed Shadle, our leader,

passed away
from a long illness of cancer.

One week before Ed passed,
Jessi flew up

and spent the whole day
with Ed on a Thursday

and Ed basically handed
over the keys to Jessi and said,

"Okay, you're our driver,
you got to go do it."

And so I think
that's when the restraints

were taken off of Jessi.

And she knows she could go out
and go for the record.

Ed made it really clear there

that, "Jessi, you're now
the number-one driver.

We're going to support you

and make you go as fast
as you want to go."

And then we got
Eric there as a backup.

You know, if for some reason,
Jessi decides to get married...

...have children...

Les, you want to say anything?

I just want to say...

- Here. Stand up here.
- I'm not getting up there.

- Alright.
- On the soapbox.

I called Cam on Friday

and asked him
if he'd bring Ed's hat.

So...

it's gonna be
in the car all week.

That's his favorite dirty
200 hat, you know?

But Jessi's gonna take it
with her on all the runs.

So...
- Yep.

Ed's not here physically,

but we know
he's here spiritually.

You know, this is his baby
and it's his project.

And he put his
whole life into it.

But now it's a lot of it
is just resting on my shoulders.

That's heavy because if there's
one thing that I can do for Ed

is really just be able
to live out this legend.

Okay. Alright.
Enough crying.

Let's break some records.
- Let's do this.

Steve. N7STT.
I am at 2.

Proceed.

Lord God, thank you.

Father, thank you for your hand

and your protection
as we go forward.

Trust only in you, Lord,

as we reach the limits
of our capability.

Starting engines.

Eagle 2, starting engines.

Copy that.

I felt great.
Felt so good.

All of it felt good.

And that was slow.
It was.

It was really, really slow.

Like I said, your guys'
steering now is so good.

It's really, really good.

All my ghosts, all my demons,

all the stuff that happened
from the last run

completely gone.

It's the best feeling
in the entire world.

I was riding in the limo back,

listening on
the radio conversations,

and somebody said something
about the hydraulic door

is gone.

Well, at that point, we're
going, "Uh-oh.

That's right forward
to the inlet."

There's a good possibility

it might have gone down
the inlet and into the engine.

The aluminum parts, the engine
can usually ingest that stuff

and not get too much damage
in there.

If there's a steel part,

the engine is pretty much junk
at that point.

And that's why we're out there
sweeping the desert,

is to make sure
that we don't get rocks

or anything going
into those blades,

because if it fractures
one of those, we're done.

So right now,
we're... we're thinking

that we're done for this trip.

Terry?

Yeah?

Yeah.

Okay. That's okay.

We're not gonna talk about that.
It's nobody's fault.

I shut that door
like I did a million times,

and it was loose
and locked and loose...

I don't know what happened.
I apologize.

I'm not blaming anybody.
You know?

The weight of the world falls
on all of our shoulders.

So hopefully we can
lift it up off of you.

Because to me, that run
was fucking amazing, Keith.

- Yeah.
- It was really, really good.

- Yeah.
- It restored my faith in myself.

- Yeah.
- It restored faith in the team.

Like, everything was working.

Steering was working,
everything worked.

I 100% forgive you.
I don't think it's your fault.

At least the steering worked.

Come here. Come here.
Come here.

I love you, Keith.

I love you, too.

- I'm not mad. Okay?
- Okay.

Okay, let us take
some burden off.

I pulled out the top vectors
for "X," "Y" and "Z"

and added them together.

And it's gonna be left or right
of that number right there.

Really? Really?

You're kidding me.

- That's the top speed.
- And that's my shakedown run.

If you had gotten on it,
like, at the quarter mile

instead of after the one mile...
- Yeah.

...you would have been
way over 500.

Ahh.

I always love your information.

I always love giving it to you.

- Yes.
- Wonder why.

3, 2, 1. Ignition.

Kitty was supposed to just
break the woman's record,

which was 300 miles an hour,

and then all of a sudden,
she's gone over 500.

- That is the record now.
- The official record.

New land speed record for women.

She's doing great.

We're gonna go faster
if she wants to go faster.

- Yeah, I want to go faster.
- You want to go faster.

Very good.

And then the story I heard

is that they wanted Hal Needham
to set the overall record,

and they yanked her
out of the car.

It just seems to me that they
could have worked that deal out.

But if you were to put Kitty
in that car,

she would have put it right
to the wood again.

I guarantee she would have.

Seemed like
when you want to do something

that's the first time
ever done in the world,

everybody wants to stop you
for some reason.

I don't understand that.

I feel very disappointed
with it.

It's sad.
It's very sad.

She suffered in many ways,
mentally and physically,

because those things
were done to her,

you know, over the years.

And then she just disappeared.

Nobody knew where she was at.

All of a sudden, I get a call

from a mental institution
in Texas.

And so I jumped on a plane
and went down there

and I went to court
and became her legal guardian,

brought her back up
to Minneapolis.

And I thought everything
was gonna be really good,

and she took up drinking.

Yeah. She... You know,
I was 10 years older than her

and she aged very, very fast.

Kitty O'Neil,
the fastest woman in the world,

died this week
in Eureka, South Dakota.

She was 72 years old.

In December of 1976,

Kitty broke the women's
land speed world record.

Her record still stands today.

So it's, um, August 14th.

We leave for the lake bed...

...in, what, six days,
seven days?

Um...
and I'm still at my mom's house

in Rapid City, South Dakota.

I never left
after the Sturgis rally.

My back was doing so good.

And then...

And then I came home
with strep throat.

So all the coughing
has gotten me

to a point where
my back hurts again.

She was overseas
filming in Italy.

Her... her back
kind of gave her some fits.

You know, she had a...
She was in a lot of pain.

You know, I'm sure it's as
a result of the injury years ago

that she experienced.

From then, it's, you know,

2 steps forward, 10 steps back.

Nina and I weren't sure
that Jessi

was even gonna go
to the desert this year.

Alright, guys, this is
my first time driving

in, like, two months.

For some odd reason,
when I put my foot

down on the throttle,

it just goes straight
to my back pain.

So I haven't driven.

I haven't ridden
a motorcycle either,

but driving
is kind of a big deal

because I really like
being able to get myself around.

I'll let you know in 15 minutes
if it's sucked.

She stayed at our house

for the 10 days
for the Sturgis rally.

We went out for dinner one night
and the question

was posed to her,
"Do you think it's wise

for you in your condition
to get in the car?

You could possibly be paralyzed
from the waist down."

Is that really something
that you want to risk?"

Jessi began to tell me
about challenges in her...

in her personal life
and within family and company.

And she was just feeling really
convoluted about this decision

to go forward with,
you know, setting the record.

"There are people
who don't want me to do it.

There's been points where
I'm not sure I want to do it."

She said,
"But then I most especially feel

like this is what
I'm supposed to be doing.

What does that mean?"

This is pretty!

She had had at that point
three times now the same dream.

She said, "You know,
I drive these cars.

It's like flying a rocket
on the ground.

So I'm always looking
at the horizon and gauges

and all the stuff."

And she said, "In my dream,
I'm in my cockpit,

but I feel like
I'm not in my body.

Like I'm just watching it
from out here somewhere."

She kind of got real quiet
for a second.

She said, "I see myself
leaving,"

like, leaving this plane.
Do you get what I'm saying?

And I said, "Well, can you die
doing this, Jessi?"

And she said, "Well, yeah."

I said, "Okay."

She goes, "But I'm not afraid."

She goes, "I really...
I just feel so light.

In this dream, in this vision,
it's just this light.

It's the horizon.
And I just go, 'Whoo.'"

Mile marker 4 is clear.

That's good.
Press it again.

Mile marker 5, clear.

Mile 7 clear.

Okay.

Yeah.

Whoo!

Whew.

Whew.

I wish I could bring
all of you with me in that

just so you could feel it.
It's so rad.

- I heard you did good.
- It was so good.

You feel better?
- Much better.

Good.

Little stress relief.
Yeah.

Okay. Ready?

Alright.
Jessi's top speed...

Well, let's do average first.

- Oh, do average.
- Yeah.

503.195.

- Average.
- Average.

Top speed...
515 miles per hour.

Saunders, we just
have to go faster.

There you go. Alright.
I like that.

And let's also consider that
was still a shakedown run, too.

So...
- Yeah.

We were laughing
about that part.

These shakedown runs
keep getting faster.

- I like... I love it.
- So with that said,

we're no longer testing.
- We're racing.

We're running for records, so...

- Amen.
- Let's go.

Alright.

She's not shutting down.

Down in the bushes
and you got a fire.

Fire.

Where's she at?

Got to get her!

Changing the world.

I make a difference
in people's lives

by doing what I love to do.

I think it's...
it's what I was born for.

Grief and shock today
in the racing community

as news spread
that professional driver

and TV host Jessi Combs died
in a jet-car crash.

The 39-year-old
was trying to break...

Combs died pushing the limits.

There are few details.

Only that there was an accident,
and she didn't survive.

We went back
and just waited at camp

and I never left the truck,

but I got to sit with her

for a good hour,
hour and a half.

And that helped,

but I didn't want to let her go.

The next few days,
it was so sad for everybody.

There was so much silence.

This is just
like it happened yesterday.

For all of us that were there,
it was extremely personal.

The accident scene was something
that was horrific

and is gonna last with us
for the rest of our lives.

But...

you still have to try
and figure it out.

We found the actual parachute.

It was pretty mangled up.

It was scorched like
it was in a fire.

This parachute was opened
in afterburner

or in full military
or something.

And so there was more going on
than parachutes not opening.

Some of the team that went

and walked the entire length
of the... of the track,

they found pieces of the nose
wheel in the 5-mile mark.

So we know that at some point
during that 5-mile point,

it impacted something
under the dirt,

something that was not visible
to the team when they went out

and walked the course
prior to the run.

That's the one that was
over her shoulder,

if I think.
- I would imagine.

Watching that video
from the beginning on this run,

everything was going perfect.

From start,
she went to full military

and then slid it over

and went up
into full afterburner.

And held in at full
the entire run.

She was in the shutdown process,

slowing the car down
when things went wrong.

She pulls the throttle back

and then all of a sudden,
this vibration starts.

You don't know
what that vibration is.

Now we know what it was.
It was the... the nose wheel.

She went through everything
just like she's supposed to do,

like she's always done.

We know that she did
all the right things.

We know she did everything
that she could physically do.

You know, you don't know
why it wouldn't slow down

or why it wasn't stopping.

I did... I did watch
that footage and that...

And I needed to see that.
I needed to know.

This might seem strange,
but it cleared up my mind

of what happened
and how she... she left us.

But more importantly,

I was able to
tell my other children...

...what had...
What had happened

and... and... and that
my daughter went quick.

Okay.
What I wanted to show you

is I recovered some stuff,
the computing equipment.

This is a satellite
tracking equipment.

Smells like jet fuel.
Complete loss.

However, here's

a computer, soaked in jet fuel,

burnt to a crisp.

So I started dissecting it,
and I pulled out this,

which is the pristine hard drive

with all the data on it
for Jessi's last run.

It's a miracle.

What does that mean to the team?

It's everything. Right?

I hope to God that I can get
the data off of this.

So I can't believe
that this has been provided

to us in this condition.

And there's not
a purpose for it.

So faith... all I have.

The hard drive that I recovered,
I had to bust open

another laptop
and replace its hard drive

and prayed that it was going
to boot off of it.

And it did, so...
And we got the entire run.

Good afternoon.

You have a smile on your face.

Well, you do too.

Well, because you're
my favorite person right now.

You.

- You are sitting down.
- I am. I am.

Your average speed,
fastest mile...

The data was successfully
recovered.

- Thank God.
- Praise God.

Praise the Lord.

Her maximum velocity
was 548.432.

Her average mile was 542.371.

- Yes.
- So she did it.

She did it.

Thank you very much.

She did it.

Fans of the speed racer

known as the fastest woman
on four wheels

say they are just devastated
by her death.

She has officially
been announced

as the fastest woman on Earth...
522.783.

In an Instagram post Sunday

about her record-breaking
attempt,

Combs wrote,
"People say I'm crazy.

I say thank you."

We have been through a lot.

Everybody's processing
this differently.

I'm trying to make
sense of this.

What does this mean?

Why did God put me here?

Hear the thunder.

The loss of Jessi cannot
be reconciled against anything.

There was a young girl
in Burns, Oregon,

and she had to be
in her early 30s.

They had just come up from
the Alvord and then I go like,

"Did you hear the story about
the girl that crashed there?"

And she goes, "Oh, my gosh."
She goes, "Jessi was amazing.

She impacted
my daughter so much."

And I looked at her
and I said, "I'm her mother."

She came up to me and she took
my face in her hands

and she said,
"You are so blessed

because you got to be the mother
of a legend."

This bandanna is
a representation of Jessi Combs.

It's a banner of strength.
It's a banner of courage.

All the blood, sweat and tears
she put into being seen,

being heard.

That's the torch that we have
to carry for her, for ourselves,

for each other,
you know, collectively.

Look at this amazing legacy
that has come after her.

Women are continually inspired
to say, "I can do this."

And to meet the little girl
that was the first recipient

of her scholarship,

to watch this
beautiful young woman

have that same light
and that same strength,

that power is never
going to fade.

Everybody wants to talk about
breaking the mold and it's like,

"Why is there a mold
to begin with?

Whoever told us to begin with
that we couldn't do this?"

What do you want to do?
Why aren't you doing it?

Do you need help? Like, what
tools do you need to do it?

If there is one person
that I'm doing this for,

it's for that little girl
that waits for another girl

to cross that finish line,
that I can change right then

and there, that she too, can do
anything she sets her mind to.

Fear is our number-one battle.

And this is just
a physical way of saying

"You don't have to live in fear.

You can live in courage and
a life that's completely free."

Even when doubt strikes, even
when you want to turn and run,

that you can live confidently
in the decisions

that you make
and the path that you choose.

And when you can live in a space

where nothing's
holding you back,

what else can you accomplish?

What else is out there?