Well Guys & Gals….Quartzsite RV Show is now in full swing and I can tell you it has been a monumental task for us in getting prepared and dialed in for this show.

We basically revamped our entire image for this show and it really is paying off for us. We decided a few months ago that we would like to have custom boxes made for our products that really showcase the quality and project the image of what we do. Before, if a customer purchased an UltraPower or GradeBrake we would ship the product in whatever box we might have handy at the time. The perception of our product when it was delivered to the customer didn’t really match the actual value that they were receiving with our product.  We sort of realized that we had been focusing entirely on creating and enhancing these products but had really done nothing in the way of marketing them in a way that really showed the true colors of them.

The scary thing with the custom boxes is that we started working with a box manufacturing company about 4 months ago and we did not have the finalized product in our hand until the Friday before we were leaving for Quartzsite. I have to mention Henry Collins from Corrpac (the box company) and the wonderful job he did to make sure we would have our product in time. He took time away from his family and practically stayed up the whole night before making sure that we would be taken care of.  Without his persistence we never would have been able to pull this off, so thank you times 1000000 Henry, we really owe you one bud.  After we did received the boxes from Henry, we spent that whole weekend assembling the boxes and packaging our product, which even though that was tough, we were so relieved to have finally gotten them before we left we really did not care.

The next revamp that we had going on simultaneously was getting our sales booth dialed in with all new backdrop banners and display shelving.  For only having the small crew that we have it is truly amazing that we were able to pull off everything we did and the outcome is absolutely fantastic. I have to give a big thanks to my good friend Tyson Blood from Fusion Graphix. He went above and beyond the call of duty to work multiple straight days with us on getting both the banners and our designs for our boxes made. I really think that God provided for us and it just reinforces the fact that we are destined to do great things in the future.

We had planned on leaving our Centralia facility at 5am on Tuesday the 17th and we are so lucky that we did leave then.  We had already received near 4 inches of snow and we had to drive through near blizzard conditions through most of Washington in 4wd just to be safe.  Once we reached south of Salem, OR we had smooth sailing and absolutely no problems at all the whole trip, which was such a relief.  If we had waited one more day to leave, or even just waited til later in the day to leave, we would have been in a world of trouble.  As I type this our families back home are without power and Washington is in a State of Emergency because of the bad storm that took place right after we left.  They received over 20 inches of snow in one day and the later ice storm caused a loss of power to much of Western Washington.  In many places they will not get their power back until mid-next week at best.  Please keep our families and the many others in your prayers that power will be restored quickly and that no more disasters will occur.

We spent the first couple days here getting our booths set up and doing numerous seminars for rally clubs out in the desert.  We had a great response to every seminar we did and things are looking very prosperous for us down here. All the people we have met are just truly amazing and I look forward to working with a lot of them in the future! I know that we are getting some help from up above at this point because things are just really clicking for us and I can’t help but feel so gracious in this time of economic uncertainty.

Well I will call this a wrap, I must be getting to bed because we have a long week ahead of us and I have a feeling that sleep will become somewhat of a convenience at this point!

As always thank you so much for your continued support and loyalty and we hope to work with each one of you down the road. Please see below for a bunch of photos of what I have been talking about above, enjoy!

Sales Booth - Edge & PacBrake

Sales Booth - Service Counter

Sales Booth - Aero & UltraPower Products

The Chassis Menu!

Display Shelving & our New Boxes!

Preparing the Boxes before Departure!

New GradeBrake Box

The Crew Working Hard at it!!!! You guys rock!!!!

The "Camo" Brazel's Hat!

When you begin to open the box....

And what's inside!

UltraPower Performance Programming Box

Ultrapower Performance Products

Magnum Spark Plug WIres for the 8.1L...these things rock!

-Jon

Well, we are T-Minus one week until we hit the road for the big Quartzsite RV Show!

We are absolutely workin’ our tails off, pulling long hours trying to get together everything that needs to get done to make this show happen, and I think our wives are going to start boycotting Quartzsite because of this

Loading up one of the trailers

One thing that we have noticed at our shop since the new year began, is that we are much busier!  For whatever reason, coming into the new year it was pretty slow here in the shop for jobs coming in.  As soon as we got back from our Christmas break though, we were swamped!!! We feel so fortunate that God has provided us with work that can keep my guys busy and help take some of the financial stress off of doing all the new things we will be introducing at Quartzsite.  It is incredibly expensive to not only essentially relocate our shop to Arizona for a couple weeks, but we are also rolling out a whole new marketing campaign that we sure hope is going to pay off! The new concepts we have come up with are beyond what are expectations were and we can’t wait to bring this stuff to market after we get back from Q!

Well I don’t have a whole lot of time to keep blabbering, there is much work to be done yet!  I’ll leave you with a few photos of jobs going on in the shop today!

Griff installing our new UltraSave Valve for the Auto Park Brake System

Jeremy installing a rear trac bar on an older F53

Couple coaches in for service!

Jon Brazel uses an iPad to examine data taken from a truck Tuesday afternoon at Brazel's RV Performance in the Port of Centralia. Company officials say the business has thrived since moving to Centralia from Olympia in 2004.

By Stephen Mercer For The Chronicle | Posted: Thursday, January 5, 2012 7:00 am

With the continued sophistication of vehicles requiring fewer hands-on mechanics and more technical expertise, a Centralia company offers services that draw customers from all over the United States and beyond.

“We are known across the country as the place to go for upgrading RV suspensions and engines,” said Brazel’s RV Performance operations manager and marketer Jon Brazel.

Hey Guys & Gals…

So first off I’m sorry about my lack of posting content but man, I gotta tell you every time I try to sit down and write something I realize I have like a million other things that need to get done!!! So here I am at 10 PM doing my due diligence and letting ya’ll know what has been going on at Brazel’s RV Performance.

First off, my time (both at work and at home) have been utterly consumed by preparing for the Quartzsite RV Show in mid-January. We are revamping our total image to unveil at Quartzsite and it has taken a ton of work to get everything in place and there is still a ton of work to do yet!  Graphic designing new artwork for use in our brochures, banners and a couple other yet to be announced things has had me working late each evening with my lovely and understanding wife Jen telling me “What, you work 24/7 now?!” But no really, she has been great and totally supportive of everything and I can not tell you how much I love her and I really don’t know what I’d do without her! And she likes guns…so ya…LOL

I can’t wait til after Quartzsite so I can share with you all the new products and advancements we have made here in the last few months, it is a very exciting time for us here at Brazel’s RV and it kills me to keep it all under my hat for now! Don’t worry though, it will be worth the wait….trust me.

So last weekend we had the Brazel’s RV Performance Christmas Party at ours (and all our customers) favorite restaurant — Judy’s Country Kitchen.  It was so much fun!!! My wife Jen and Alan’s wife Alanna planned out some really fun games for us to play and everyone had an absolute blast with A LOT of laughter.  We got each employee a T-shirt that fit their personality or had something to do with them, and they were presented to them individually while we said a few words about how proud we are of each of them…very funny!

So on top of all the Quartzsite-Craziness, I’m already working on a lot of really fun stuff for this summer.  So far, May is looking absolutely crazy! May 11-14 we are hosting the iRV2.com Northwest Meet & Greet Rally and it is shaping up to be a great event with live music, a live magician, BBQ, Grand Prix Golf Cart Challenge and who knows what else!!! Also during that same time the Workhorse Chassis Club is having a rally in Kerrville, TX May 9-13…So I am trying to figure out how to be there for the first couple days of that show. And then on May 19th we will be hosting a “Dyno Day” event at our shop to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project! This one is going to take a lot of my time because I want to make it a successful deal so we can have it annually the weekend before Memorial Day. To top off this very busy May, we will be having our annual Brazel’s RV company camp out over memorial day weekend at the very beautiful Brazel Family Cabin in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains (Packwood, WA)

Helicopter Aerial Brazel Cabin - Courtesy Jon Brazel & Glacier Aviation

Well I hope that this will suffice for now, I’m so tired I can barely keep my eyes open! Before I forget, please “Like” us on FaceBook as we are going to start posting special deals that will only be able to be claimed if you have “Liked” us!

If I don’t get another post up before then, from our Family to yours — Have a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

I know, I know…I’ve been slacking. I promise I will have a new blog post up in the next couple days….

Things have been really crazy around the shop lately preparing for the Quartzite RV Show! I swear it doesn’t matter how early in the year you start preparing for it (we started really working on planning all the way back in June!) it still always seems to come right down to the wire on getting everything finalized.

I am super excited though with everything we’ve been working so hard on over the last few months…it should make for a great show for us and some great upgrades for you guys!

That’s it for now folks…check back soon for a new post that isn’t just full of excuses

Hey guys & gals — I thought I would take a quick departure from the current series of posts regarding the beginnings of our business and make a post about just how much I simply enjoy my job!

I basically started out working here part time when I was still in high school, pushing a broom and doing whatever menial work I was asked to do for minimum wage.  While I enjoyed being a part of the family business, I felt my talents could be put to better use and when a job opportunity came up at the local Honda motorcycle dealership in the parts department I pounced on it.  I grew up riding motorcycles and racing motocross and it had always been my dream to somehow be involved in that industry.  I remember asking the Honda shop guys when I was 10 years old if they would hire me, and continued to pester them each time I went in with my mom or dad for the next 6 or 7 years until they finally gave me the chance.  I spent about 1.5 years with South Sound Honda and thoroughly enjoyed working for them and the opportunity they gave me in learning retail sales and generally just having a fun environment to work in.  Unfortunately up here in rainy Washington, their slow time is in parallel with the RV industry and they had to lay me off in the winter of 2007.  At the time I was pretty crushed because I did not want to wait until the next summer to work again and I couldn’t dream of working anywhere else that I would enjoy as much.

Enter Brazel’s RV Performance (again).  About this same time my dad was constructing the RV park adjacent to our shop and he needed some help so I was able to claim some unemployment while working on the side for my dad shoveling dirt and landscaping (hope this doesn’t get big enough that the Washington State Employment Security Office reads this).  After completing the RV park, there was an opening in the office as a service adviser at Brazel’s RV.  I applied for the position and thankfully they gave me the chance to show them what I had.  I’ve always been a quick learner and I think they were pretty impressed by my proficiency on the computer and how quick I picked up the program that was used to operate the service jobs in the shop.  Not long after I started there it was time to go to the Quartzsite RV Show in January, the REAL testing ground for my employment.  I was in the sales booth and proved my worth once again by performing well and helping out, now this wasn’t without the occasional screw up but hey I was learning and they understood.  I should also explain that I was not given any sort of special treatment because I was the owners son, in fact I do believe I was pushed a lot harder and I am thankful for that in so many ways.  Mike Bronzini, our general manager, was my boss & mentor and I learned quite a bit by just following his lead and I can’t thank him enough for teaching me the ropes and advancing my knowledge of the RVing industry to what it has become today.

I stayed in the position of service adviser for about another year and enjoyed it enough but I still felt I could be doing more for the business in other areas.  At the same time, Alan Sanders, the shop foreman, had been the main person doing all of the dyno work, programming ECM’s, diagnosing engine issues and developing new products.  There was some employee shuffling done at this time, Chris Leach moved up here from Grants Pass, OR and took my position as service adviser and I moved out into the shop as the “Engine Performance Technician”.  I started working with Steve, my father, and Alan learning what they knew and also learning a lot on my own.  Pretty soon I was pretty much doing all of the “dyno bay” work and Alan was able to focus more on product development with Steve and taking care of the myriad of other duties he has in the shop.  Along with working on coaches and learning new things everyday, I was still able to interact with customers on a daily basis via the internet and phone, which is what I really love.

Fast forward to today and I am still handling most of the engine diagnostic jobs and still spinnin’ the rollers on the dyno but my position in the company has changed a bit and the emphasis of what I do has evolved.  Because of some changes in personnel and restructuring of how we do business I am now in a position that is really my main passion and that is outside sales and distribution. I get the awesome opportunity to track down potential dealers and travel around to train them. Not only do I get to meet a lot of awesome folks, I also learn new ideas for our business and ways to progress our reach in the market place.  Along with working with new dealers I also get to interact with a lot of customers on the phone that are placing orders or calling for technical assistance. This is the real fun part as I love to not only explain to people what makes us different as a business but I also get to learn about them and their hobbies, interests and lives. I can’t even tell you how many people have offered a place to stay when I’m in the area or the opportunity to go for a flight with them in their private plane (thanks Gary!). As an add on to what I currently do in the shop I have recently expanded our online presence with maintaining our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/brazelsrv), managing this blog and continuing to participate in discussions on irv2.com. I believe that social media is definitely the wave of the future and keeping people interested in us and our products also protects my employees and myself as we navigate through this tumultuous economic time.

A Beautiful Washington Day!

As always, thanks for taking the time to read my blog and keep those less fortunate in your thoughts this Holiday Season!

-Jon Brazel

Hey there folks!

This is part 2 and a continuation of how Brazel’s RV Performance came to fruition.

As I explained before, when Steve purchased the property at 3912 Harrison Avenue Centralia, WA 98531 from the Port of Centralia, we were all a bit skeptical of how it would turn out…I mean there was a mobile home and a greenhouse garden in the middle of the property!  Well that quickly changed, as Steve had the mobile home hauled off and he and his brother Mike set out with the families Case 480C Backhoe to transform the property into his vision.

I guess at this point I should explain a little about myself as I make an entrance into this story.  My name is Jonathan (Jon) Brazel and I was born into the Brazel family on April 9, 1988 to two loving parents Steve & Holly Brazel and older brother Jeff.  For the sake of your time and sanity we will fast forward past all the details of my upbringing but there are certain things that I will go over to help you understand my connection in the family business.  For starters, I was definitely daddy’s boy! Whereas my younger brother Steve Jr. was big time momma’s boy, I couldn’t get enough of spending time with my father.  He introduced me to a few things that have become staples in my current life, such as big game hunting, motorcycle riding and tinkering around on projects.  When I was younger and my father was building his first automotive shop in Olympia, I was right there at his side brush hogging the hillside before he first broke ground. When the excavators were there, so was I….overseeing operations of course!  One other interesting thing to note is I was the referred to as the “Questions King.” “Dad, how does this work…?”, “Dad, why does that do that…?”, “Dad, when we will be there…?,” I think you get the point!  I was always curious about things and never could ask enough questions to satisfy my thirst for knowledge.  As I grew a bit older I still spent a considerable amount of time with my father and even considered him my best friend.  This connection that we shared in the same interests and personalities has lent greatly to our ability to work well together today and always explore new options and possibilities in coming up with new products, services and advancements for the RVing world.

Ok–enough about me!  Back to the construction of the world’s first and greatest RV repair facility!

Steve decided that he wanted to utilize the same building he had built in Olympia but in a different configuration. Instead of having the bay doors on each end of the shop, he designed it so that it would have 4 large bay doors on the long side of the front with an additional bay door in the side end and a bay door in the back behind possibly the greatest tool Steve would purchase for the shop and later lend a great deal of help in developing some our most popular products and services, a Taylor TD-24S Chassis Dynamometer!

The chassis “Dyno” is a computer controlled tool that is used to compute horsepower and torque on a vehicle and also to simulate loads and conditions. This enables us to diagnose engine problems much quicker and more accurately than other shops.

As things progressed in the construction phase of the shop, Steve started focusing on plans of how to make this business unique and simply the best place to go for RVing service and solutions.  With that idea he approached Mike Bronzini, who he had dealt with previously buying RV suspension upgrades from Henderson’s Line-Up and SuperSteer Products, and offered him the position of General Manager.  The Brazel & Bronzini family actually joined forces on a houseboat trip at Lake Pend Oreille in the summer of 2004 where Steve and Mike settled on his employment.  Mike would bring with him years of experience in the RV chassis arena, and also a customer base that would get things quickly rolling for the infant business.  Along with Mike came his wonderful parents Al “Big Al” Bronzini and Kathy Bronzini.  After Mike relocated his family to Rochester, his parents shortly later decided to sell their house in Grants Pass, OR and buy an RV and live at the shop and help out in any way they could. Not long after the business also acquired two amazing technicians from Henderson’s Line-Up, Ken Perry and Alan Sanders.  This was to be a “dream team” and it certainly proved itself that in that our first year open the business had outperformed the projected sales by over 50%!

Well, time to get back to “work”, I guess we will have to split this into a couple more “parts”! Man, who knew there could be so much to talk about!!!

Adios from currently the wettest place on earth!

P.S. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and were able to spend quality time with friends and family…from our family to yours Happy Holidays!

Hello Guys and Gals!

This is our first ever blog and Part 1 of an introduction to Brazel’s RV Performance.  We are a family owned and operated business in Centralia, WA established in September of 2004 by Steven R. Brazel.

You can trace the roots of this business all the way back to 1982 when Steve and his father Rodney opened a Chevron service station in Olympia, WA.  Rod retired from this business in 1991 and Steve moved from General Manager to Owner.  He quickly sensed that the gas station/service station concept was slowly transitioning into more of a focus on the gas station/convenience store concept and began to focus more on ideas to expand his ability to cater to automotive and RVing customers.  With this vision he decided in 1997 to break ground on a brand new facility in the Olympia Auto Mall that would focus solely on automotive and RV repair.  With the RV’s in mind he integrated an “RV Only” repair bay that utilized a heavy duty rack to lift the motorhomes off the ground for repair.  This would mean that Brazel’s Automotive Repair was the only facility in the South Sound with the ability to raise a 40′ motorhome off the ground for repairs.

The main focus starting out in this business was automotive repair with the ability to work on RV’s, but over the next few years Steve saw that the idea of RV repair and upgrades was to be a necessary focus in the expansion of his business.  At the same time Steve realized that the location that he was in was not suitable to the requirements of space needed to service and manuever RV’s at the level he wanted to.  Because the property that Brazel’s Automotive Service occupied was on the side of valley it severely limited the workable flat land available without spending millions of dollars on back filling the hillside.  In what Steve likes to call a “divine intervention” the next door neighbor, Topping Volvo, approached him with an offer to purchase his property and building to expand their used car sales lot.  After quick deliberation with his wife, Holly, Steve decided it was the perfect time and opportunity to relocate the business to a more RV friendly location and focus all of his energy on repairing, servicing and upgrading RV engine and suspension.

He chose a location just south of Olympia in between Centralia and Grand Mound on Old Hwy 99/Harrison Ave.  At the time it was a residential/commercial property with a mobile home and a couple out-buildings that needed to be completely removed and re-landscaped.

We all thought he was crazy at the time, but his vision into what he could make this property and business far exceeded what we ever thought possible.

Please check back soon for Part 2 of Brazel’s RV Performance’s beginnings!