I found this artical it was intresting and explanes a little more what nitro does and is.

nitromethane is made of propane CH3NO2.
NITRO = POWER! But….there are conditions and contingencies. First of all, it doesn't add power because it's such a "hot" chemical. Not at all. This may come as a surprise, but the methanol (methyl alcohol) in the fuel is by far the most flammable ingredient….nearly twice as flammable as nitromethane. As a matter of fact, if nitro were only 4 degrees less flammable, it wouldn't even have to carry the red diamond "flammable" label!In actuality, nitromethane must be heated above 36 degrees Celcius before it will begin to emit enough vapors that they can be ignited by some sort of spark or flame!
suppose we were to find a way to run more liquid through our engines without increasing the air supply? That would add power, wouldn't it? Well, guess what….we can! An internal combustion engine can burn more than 2 ½ times as much nitromethane to a given volume of air than it can methanol.

Also (and this will come as a big surprise), the drag racing industry only consumes about 5% of all the nitromethane produced world-wide; and the hobby industry about another 2% or so. This means we have no "clout" whatever, and simply must pay the asking price. Where does the rest of it go? Industry. It's used for a variety of things - a solvent for certain plastics, insecticides,and I'm told it's an ingredient in Tagamet, a well-known prescription ulcer medication (no wonder that stuff is so expensive!). Please note that while nitromethane is an ingredient in making some explosives, under normal use, it in itself, is not exploseve.