Nebraska hot-rodders, including members of the Nebraska Rod and Custom Association, Rapid Transit System, Eastern Nebraska/Western Iowa Car Club Council, Rebels Auto Club and the Twin River Cruisers, helped defeat two separate bills designed to ban nitrous oxide equipped passenger cars and pickups from Nebraska's roadways this past legislative session.
The first bill (L.B. 688) sought to outlaw any "device or fuel enhancer...that provides a motor vehicle with the capability to operate at a speed in excess of the [vehicle] design." This overly broad language could have easily been construed to not only outlaw nitrous oxide, but also many other legitimate aftermarket performance enhancing products including turbochargers and superchargers.
A second more targeted bill (L.B. 1027) prohibited road use of nitrous oxide equipped cars or pickups. L.B. 1027 made exceptions for vehicles en route to or from a racetrack and for those vehicles from which the nitrous container had been removed. L.B. 1027 would have also required nitrous oxide equipped vehicles to be identified with "scarlet letter" front and rear bumper decals.