The use of nitrous oxide (n2o) as a performance enhancement has been traced back to World War 2, where it was employed to give allied aircraft emergency boosts in both airspeed and altitude capabilities. However with the advent of jet propulsion at the end of ww11 the governments interest in piston-powered aircraft waned, and for the most part, nitrous r&d was shelved.

There were sporadic attempts at using nitrous oxide in race cars over the next few decades, but since for the most part it was a clandestine, closely-guarded secret, and not too many people were aware of its existence.

Finally in the 1970s nitrous came out of the closet. it was the hot topic of conversation. especially since a number of entrepreneurs brought systems to the market that were highly erratic, at best.

Perhaps the greatest boost to the popularity of nitrous oxide was the advent of drag racings pro mod class. Early pioneers like Charles Carpenter, Bill Kuhlmann and Robby Vandergrift captured the imagination of race fans with their impressive performances with stock bodied cars. And nitrous was there for every performance milestone - the first 200mph run by a “doorslammer” the first 6 sec run

Today nitrous systems are used on daily drivers and track day cars