Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessi Combs.
Jessi Combs was born in the Black Hills of Rapid City, SD. With a lifelong desire to become a race car driver, this fearless young lady found a love for speed and its machines at a very young age. Her family explored everything around them and gave her a solid appreciation for off-roading, motorcycling, as well as racing in many forms.
In addition to her love for everything automotive, Jessi is somewhat of an artist and spends as much time as she can creating with her own hands and can make almost anything one can dream up. She is an independent and adventurous spirit, boasting, “I will try everything at least twice… I wouldn’t want to be jaded by the first attempt.”
Having turned down a full scholarship to a prominent interior design school, she traveled North America before settling in Denver, CO to pursue a career in snowboarding. This proved more painfully demanding on her physically than she had anticipated and rather decided on a career that involved her love for the throttle pedal and showcased her artistic abilities. She moved to Laramie, WY to attend WyoTech where she studied Collision/Refinishing, Chassis Fabrication, Street RodFabrication, and Trim/Upholstery, graduating at the top of her class with a degree in Custom Automotive Fabrication.
Her time and involvement at the trade school led to her first fabrication job when the marketing department hired her to build a car from the ground up to debut at the Specialty Equipment Marketing Association’s (SEMA) show. The car was a success and auctioned for charity and Ms Combs hasn’t looked back since.
While her chosen career path didn’t initially include time on television, she found herself on Overhaulin’ as a guest fabricator and was soon hired as the co-host of Xtreme 4×4, part of the Powerblock on Spike TV; a position she held for four years and 90+ episodes. She built everything from race trucks to street trucks and trail rigs to trailers for an audience of millions.
In a widely publicized yet unexplainable accident in 2007, while working in the studio, Jessi was folded in two by a large piece of machinery that had fallen on her, burst fracturing her spine’s L3. The accident should have left her wheelchair bound; but instead, after surgery, bed rest, therapy, eight months and a little help from God, Jessi was granted full medical release. Appreciative of her health and her time with Xtreme 4×4, Jessi chose to move on with her career and in 2008 left the show in pursuit of other opportunities.
The next year was full of appearances on all sorts of automotive TV shows and her on-screen personality was beginning to take shape as she honed her TV hosting skills while maintaining her integrity as a metal fabricator, builder and industrial artist. In 2009 she appeared as a host and builder on the entire 7th season of Mythbusters to fill in for Kari Byron’s maternity leave.
The Velocity Channel eventually became her home for television as she could be found on All Girls Garage and Overhaulin’s 2011’s return to TV as a hybrid host and ‘A-Team’ member. She can currently be seen on The List: 1001 Car Things To Do Before You Die on AOL’s autoblog.com, an award-winning show.
These programs opened the opportunity for Jessi to become a performance driver for the film and commercial world. She has driven everything from supercars to monster trucks, relics to rally cars, hot rods, two wheels, four wheels and even at times, no wheels. Stunt driving has opened a whole new passion into the arena of possibilities between woman and machine for Jessi.
When it comes to competitive driving, Combs feels right at home in the driver seat. She has raced Ultra4’s King of the Hammers, taking home 1st place wins in the Spec, Modified, and Stock classes, top 20 in the unlimited class, and also earned a national championship; all as the first and only female to ever place at any Ultra4 event. Finishing the Baja 1000 is winning, yet two podium finishes is a true landmark in her racing resume. The North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger added Jessi to the team for the 2013 attempt to break the 512 mph Women’s Landspeed World record made in 1976 by Kitty O’neil; to date, Jessi is the fastest woman on 4-wheels holding a record of 398 mph with a top speed of 483 mph (the team, and documentary, remains in pursuit for her to become the Fastest Woman on Earth… hopefully by end of August 2019). Early 2015 Combs competed in the Rallye Aicha des Gazelles, a nine day all-female rally race that only uses 1960 hand-drawn maps and compass; they pulled 10th place overall and a 1st place finish in the First Participation category. The Race of Gentleman, held by the longstanding Oilers car club, invited Jessi as the first women to compete in their carnival event by racing a 1913 twin engine Model T down the beach; her ability to handle any situation with any car will forever be in the history books.
Jessi is proud of the relationships she has fostered throughout her career and she continues to represent many companies as a brand representative as well as a product expert for companies such as Harley Davidson, Mercedes, and BFGoodrich. These relationships coupled with her skills provided her the opportunity to develop a woman’s line of welding gear (PPE) with Lincoln Electric in order to fill the demand and growth of ladies in the industry. Jessi has joined ten years of epic 4-wheeling journeys with WARN Industries and proceeds to spread the word about their proven quality to the rest of the world. As a hands on builder, aligning with establishments such as Dana Corp, Dake and Industrial Metal Supply only help her mission to express to others what woman are capable of in the shop.
Not known for sitting still, this fast-paced girl has started her own private metal fab shop: “A place where bad ass hot rods, motorcycles, custom trucks, race vehicles, and anything metal will originate with a feminine touch; where chicks can finally have a place to get dirty, be creative, use their skills, explore talents, go fast, and have fun in a comfortable working environment”. Her achievements and dedication to the hands on way of living have parlayed into a new brand that encompasses the lifestyle other passionate woman possess while living a REAL DEAL life.
Has it been a smooth road?
While I have been very blessed with amazing opportunities, it’s still a male-dominated world. Getting a job in a real shop is next to impossible as they say a woman’s vibe slows down productivity. The risk of sexual harassment is too high. Wives and girlfriends hate me before they have even met me. Girls aren’t physically strong enough to get the job done. I say BS to all that noise as I have proven all that to immensely wrong. Even then, I’m going to keep doing what I do because I love it, and I am damn good at it too.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
Nowadays, I specialize in awareness for the skilled trades and women’s roll in them. Aside from TV being the biggest commercial for females in the industry, I travel around and speak to our youth and women about the potentials of a career in the trades. I also founded a 501c3 called Real Deal Revolution where we offer worshoppes to put tools in their hands and teach how to use them. This work shows that tools or getting dirty is not scary and completely strips away the intimidation factor. I absolutely love seeing the confidence in someone after they walk away with a new skill in their toolbox.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
This industry is moving heavily towards MOBILITY. Meaning autonomous vehicles, ride sharing and electrification are all on the rise… even things like public transportation and those electric scooters that are everywhere are considered here. Be on the lookout for our OEM manufactures making changes for the better of our earth and our carbon footprints in big ways!
Contact Info:
- Website: Jessicombs.com. Realdealrevolution.org
- Instagram: @thejessicombs
- Facebook: @thejessicombs
- Twitter: @thejessicombs
Image Credit:
Courtesy of Lincoln Electric, Courtesy of WARN Ind, Personal stock
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