At first glance you'd never know just how much weight Carrie Coombs-Russell pulls within the off-road industry. Yet while not physically intimidating, there is something about her that makes you want to think, then double think before you speak in her presence. It's not intentional or blatant, but it's palpable and real. Arguably the most powerful figure in off-road racing today, Carrie Coombs took the least direct route-or the path of most resistance-to the top.
Being born into something is not uncommon in this day and age; people generally tend to gravitate toward lines of work that they were raised around. There's no genetic proof of such a thing as a lawyer gene or a doctor gene, yet it's not uncommon for doctors to breed doctors and lawyers to breed lawyers. It's not necessarily a phenomenon; it's just that when you're raised in a particular environment, you can't help but to pick up on certain things and the intricacies of their inner workings. Such is the story of Carrie Coombs. Growing up in a household that revolved around off-road racing unintentionally set her up for the job she seemed to want the least.
"There was no real place for me in the family business," Coombs-Russell says of her decision to pursue a career in law as opposed to the "racing" business. Being the daughter of the legendary off-road promotional visionary Dave Coombs Sr. didn't necessarily guarantee a spot at the top of the sport; if nothing else, it just meant you were bound to work sign-up, scoring or trash duty at one of his events. Besides, with two aspiring racers as siblings, Carrie was anything but the heir apparent to the rapidly expanding Coombs empire.
Determined to blaze her own trail, after graduation she enrolled at WVU and subsequently into the West Virginia College of Law (where she would graduate in 1987). Specializing in Personal Injury and Criminal Defense, she moved to Pittsburgh and set up shop well outside of the off-road industry. The almost sterile courtroom environments were a far cry from the Blackwater 100 conditions in which she was raised. On the home front, DC Sr.'s events (which were being run under the now-famous Racer Productions and MX Sports names) were setting the bar for successful off-road promoting. The Blackwater 100, Loretta Lynn's, the GNCC series, High Point and Steel City were all booming, and Carrie's siblings Timmy (who won the 1988 Blackwater 100) and DC Jr. were well on their way to successful professional racing careers. Ironically, the move away from home and the family business didn't take Carrie out of the loop; if anything, it brought her in even deeper as Dave Coombs Sr.'s prominence in the off-road industry created an ever-increasing need for trustworthy legal counsel.
In 1990, a farmer's family contacted Racer Productions wanting to host a GNCC event on their property. The farmer's son, Jeff Russell, was an accomplished racer who had competed in the grueling International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) races on several occasions (1983-'86 and 1989). As had become the custom, DC Sr. and his new legal counsel set up a meeting with the Russells in order to gauge the potential for the event. Unbeknownst to DC Sr., he wasn't the only one checking things out at the meeting. Jeff Russell's lack of fear went beyond just racing, as Carrie had caught his eye. When asked if the feeling of attraction was mutual, Carrie didn't hesitate: "Are you kidding me? Have you seen him? Yeah, it's safe to say it was mutual." Courting the daughter of an industry powerhouse like DC Sr. wasn't exactly the safe route to take, but then again, Russell had already proven he was fearless. Carrie and Jeff began dating, which didn't exactly slow Jeff down, as he won the National Enduro title in 1991.