Out of control drag car splits in two

An out of control drag car has split in two after its parachutes failed to open at a speed of almost 500 kilometres per hour.

Gary Densham, who is a 69-year-old former school teacher, was competing in a nitro racing event in Pomona, California, when he clocked 494km/h during a sizzling lap of just 4.050 seconds.

The effort was his best of the weekend, but quickly soured when his parachutes failed to deploy.

The veteran made a valiant attempt to bring the car to a halt, but the track at Pomona is famously short and resulted in the vehicle careening into a sand trap and into a safety net where it broke in two.

Miraculously, Densham emerged unscathed from the crash, but later suggested that it may be the end of his career given the vehicle was the only one he owned.