Police are investigating after a white Nissan left Pascoe Vale Road, struck a power pole and exploded into flames about 1am on Saturday. It is believed the driver lost control when the car clipped a blue Ford Focus.

The man killed in the crash was reportedly 28-year-old chef Pat Weerasinghe​. Police said the second driver, a 19-year-old from Craigieburn, did not know the man killed and stopped at the scene. Mr Weerasinghe worked at city bar Ms Collins.

Detective Sergeant Mark Amos, from the Brunswick Major Collision Investigation Unit, said investigators believe the two cars came into contact while they were racing each other.

He said the white Nissan veered off the road and into the wooden power pole with such force that it caused it to snap about one metre off the ground.

"To snap a pole like that you've got to be travelling reasonably quick; certainly in excess of the speed limit," he said.

"It is indicative to us that a racing-type scenario fits to the circumstances."

In a similar crash this week, a 36-year-old Endeavour Hills man was killed in Wantirna South last Sunday when his car rolled and struck a brick pillar.

Detectives issued an appeal for witnesses, with particular focus on a second dark-coloured hatchback that left the scene. It is believed the two cars were racing along Stud Road in the lead-up to the crash.

Adam Brass, who was one of the first on the scene at the Wantirna South crash, said he tried to free the driver but he was stuck in the car and unconscious.

He said another witness saw the two cars speeding down the road just before the crash.

"Basically they were racing each other. One lost control and went in front of them and flipped over," he said.

Inspector Paul Binyon, from North-West Road Policing Command, said that hoon driving and illegal street racing were unacceptable behaviour on the roads.

He said most cases of hoon driving often fell into two categories: the split-second decision made on the road to race another car, and the more organised anti-social behaviour seen at so-called skid meets.

The two recent incidents appeared to be reckless spur-of-the-moment choices, he said.

"My experience has been that for some reason it can be almost seasonal, when a bit of this warmer weather comes around and there this willingness to get out in public to start to show off," he said.

Inspector Binyon said getting through to hoons wasn't just the role of police and that education by the wider community had to play a part in it.

He also said other agencies were employing strategies to stop hoons, including councils putting in rougher grades of bitumen to make burnouts less appealing.

"It's outright dangerous," he said. "The public highways are not a playground for people to get their adrenaline rush. We're sick of it, the community is sick of it."