Pro Modified evolved from a group of doorslammer racers who sought to race Pro Stock but couldn't afford the mountainous investment needed to run Pro Stock. These performance-oriented doorslammer racers began to put nitrous on their large displacement engines and found a home in IHRA's Quick Rod division, which was later renamed as Top Sportsman in 1985.

This movement also opened the door to another breed of doorslammer racer (primarily on the West Coast), who decided a supercharger was a better power adder. The two would forever be at odds with one another up until they were combined to create Pro Modified and the rivalry hasn't calmed down almost three decades later. A third power adder with turbocharger only proved to make parity in the volatile doorslammer division even more of a challenge.

The preferred power adder of choice amongst the three, as selected by the readers of CompetitionPlus.com, is the supercharged by a majority of the 6,300-plus votes cast in the ARP Question of the Week. A distant second was the nitrous cars pulling in 28-percent, just two ahead of the turbo entries.