NEW YORK (Reuters) - Race car driver Jesse Coombs has died in a high-speed crash while trying to set a new speed record, the family said on Monday.

An American driver has died in a high-speed crash while trying to set a new speed record.

Jesse Coombs, 39, was trying to win the title of the fastest woman on earth when she was killed on Sunday in the Alford Desert, a dry bottom of a lake in southeastern Oregon.

The deceased's family issued a statement posted on their daughter's social network Instagram.``Jessie's biggest dream was to become the fastest woman on earth, a dream she had sought since 2012 ... she was one of the rare dreamers who had the courage to turn those odds, '' the statement said. To the fact, and I have left that land and are driving faster than any woman in history. "

Coombs was a designer for fast cars and a television presenter for several car shows.

Coombs recorded her attempt to break the record of speed driving on social networking sites, and her goal was to exceed the record set in 1976 by driving at a speed of 512 miles (about 820 kilometers) an hour achieved by American Kitty O'Neill, who died last November.

"It may seem a bit crazy to go straight to the line of fire," Coombs wrote this week on her Instagram page. "People with the will are doing great things. People say I'm crazy. I say thank you."