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Hurst Shifters and Hurst Performance were originally one company called Hurst-Campbell, which was founded in 1958 to make shifters and other aftermarket high-performance car parts. Hurst transmission shifters and other products gained an excellent reputation in auto racing, particularly in drag racing, and with custom car makers. Many auto devotees were replacing their lesser-quality factory shifters with Hurst shifters for better performance. Though US automakers were not enthusiastic about outsourcing and preferred to make their own parts back then, the demand for Hurst shifters left them no choice but to offer Hurst branded gear sticks on their muscle car models. George Hurst acquired Schiefer Manufacturing, who made clutches, and Airheart, who manufactured brake systems, and branched out into other specialty performance products during the 1960's. In 1968 Hurst went public. Hurst was bought out in 1970 by Sunbeam Products, then in 1987 by the Mr. Gasket Company and in 2007 B&M Racing and Performance Products bought the Hurst brand. A subsidiary of Hurst was started in 2008, called Hurst Performance Vehicles, which specialized in creating new renditions of Hurst vehicles that include the Hurst Challenger, Hurst Viper and the Hurst Camaro. Many do not know it, but Hurst Performance was also the inventor of the "Jaws of Life," a hydraulic rescue tool. Now separated out into another company called Hurst Jaws Of Life, the Jaws of Life was first used in 1963 to free race car drivers from their vehicles after they had crashed.