Champion Victorian drag racer expected to retire after crash

Drag racer Phil Lamattina's career appears to be over after he suffered a shattered vertebrae in a crash that snapped his car in two at a south-east Queensland raceway on the weekend.

The 39-year-old was in a qualifying round of the Fuchs Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway, south west of Brisbane, when his car suffered a chassis failure about 3pm on Saturday.

Dramatic amateur footage captured the terrifying moment Lamattina lost control of his dragster at more than 200km/h, with the car lifting off the track and flipping 200m into the air, before slamming into a wall at the Ipswich speedway.

Lamattina's car snapped in two and came to rest amid shattered debris with its braking parachute deployed.

The incident was scarily similar to an accident in 2007, involving an ageing drag-racer, with Lamattina opting to only race newer speed machines.

His family is particularly concerned as the $200,000 racer that broke up on Saturday was brand new.

The Lamattinas and drag racing authorities are determined to pinpoint why the US-made dragster suddenly let fly.

Lamattina's brother Angelo said cheating death twice was enough and his brother will "definitely be considering retirement".

Lamattina is in Princess Alexandra Hospital with two shattered bones in his back.

Doctors expect him to make a full recovery, with hopes to get him up and about without the aid of a back brace in the coming days.