LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - An out-of-control car in an illegal street race struck and killed two spectators and badly wounded a third person in Los Angeles early on Thursday, and the driver later fled the scene, Southern California media reported.

Television news footage showed several tire marks on a street in the suburban San Fernando Valley section of the city where the bystanders were struck.

"There are preliminary indications it was street racing," Los Angeles police Captain John McMahon told local television station KTLA. "This is something that's publicized as glamorous entertainment but street racing is criminal, it's deadly and often results in fatalities and serious injuries."

KTLA and local television station KABC, citing police, reported that three spectators at the race were struck by a Ford Mustang and that two of the people died and another was badly hurt.

The driver of the Mustang left the scene, abandoning the vehicle on the sidewalk, and another motorist in the fatal race drove away, local media reported.

Los Angeles police spokeswoman Rosario Herrera confirmed that two people died when they were struck by a vehicle traveling at high speed, but she could not immediately say if their deaths involved street racing.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)