A DRIVER is dead and another is in a coma after what police say appears to have been a street race in Dubbo.

Witnesses said two cars, a Holden Statesman and a Mitsubishi FTO, were racing down Brisbane St, and both cars independently crashed.

Police said the Statesman hit a tree, killing the 20-year-old driver and injuring and trapping a 19-year-old passenger, who is now in hospital with serious neck injury.

The Mitsubishi first crashed into a power pole and then into a tree, causing a blackout in the area and throwing the 20-year-old male driver from the car.

He's in Dubbo Base Hospital in a critical condition in an induced coma and is expected to be flown to St George Hospital in Sydney.