Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Jessi Combs, who lost her life today while attempting a land speed world record in Oregon. It was said that Jessi had been driving the North American Eagle, a 56 foot vehicle capable of over 45,500 horsepower. The crash occurred on a dry lake bed, in Alvord Desert in southeastern Oregon. She became known as “the fastest woman on four wheels” after a 2013 attempt at breaking the women’s land-speed world record in which she reached a speed of 398 miles per hour. When asked at a motorcycle rally last year, what she had in store for the future her response was “Ideas, dreams, and goals morph as we experience life, so I’m not sure I can look at it like there’s something I haven’t yet achieved since I will always be striving for something more,”. She lived life to the fullest and paved a future for women in motorsports.
A few weeks ago, I stumbled across a quote that really stood out to me. We suffered a great loss in our own racing community this summer and it showed us how truly fragile life is.
“He who becomes the slave of habit, who follows the same routes every day, who never changes pace, who does not risk and change the color of his clothes, who does not speak and does not experience, dies slowly.
He or she who shuns passion,
who prefers black on white,
dotting ones "i’s" rather than a bundle of emotions, the kind that make your eyes glimmer,
that turn a yawn into a smile,
that make the heart pound in the face of mistakes and feelings,
dies slowly.
He or she who does not turn things topsy-turvy, who is unhappy at work, who does not risk certainty for uncertainty, to thus follow a dream, those who do not forego sound advice at least once in their lives, die slowly.
He who does not travel, who does not read, who does not listen to music, who does not find grace in himself, she who does not find grace in herself, dies slowly.
He who slowly destroys his own self-esteem, who does not allow himself to be helped, who spends days on end complaining about his own bad luck, about the rain that never stops, dies slowly.
He or she who abandons a project before starting it, who fails to ask questions on subjects he doesn't know, he or she who don't reply when they are asked something they do know, die slowly.
Let's try and avoid death in small doses, reminding oneself that being alive requires an effort far greater than the simple fact of breathing.
Only a burning patience will lead
to the attainment of a splendid happiness."
-Martha Medeiros
We honor those who have gone before for us, for they will never be forgotten.
-JW
