Kaua‘i High School teacher and Social Studies department head Elena Kealoha is a racing wonder woman who works on her on own race car.
Around six years ago, Kealoha decided to buy a street car, but in her heart of hearts she really wanted a Volkswagen with some old fashioned zeitgeist to it. Her infatuation with owning a VW began with Elena’s older brother John and sister Yvette, who used to drive and maintain their own Volkswagens back in the day.
“When I first got my driver’s license I wanted to get a Volkswagen just like John and Yvette, but my mother was afraid I would hurt myself so she didn’t want to buy it for me,” said Kealoha.
When she was old enough to buy her own car, she browsed through the eBay listings and tracked down a 1956 Brandy Candy colored Volkswagen complete with a rag top. Brother John checked out the online specs and photos and agreed to travel to California with Elena to get a closer look.
The trip resulted in Elena tapping her savings and shipping the scrumptious little German tart back to the islands. Elena drove the bug for four years as a street car and then brother John persuaded her to race it.
“I told my sister that I wanted to start racing at Mana drag strip so she let me make my first run in her Lexus,” said Kealoha. Buoyed with confidence from her first initial run, Kealoha cleaned up the VW she had now named “Shelly” and prepared to compete.
“When I first raced this VW it wasn’t as fast as I expected because the internal engine parts weren’t what was told to me in the sale,” said Kealoha. The previous California owner claimed to have raced Camaros in the VW and beaten them. He said the bug raced in the 11s, however, when Helena hammered it down Mana it finished at 18 seconds.
“So I took the engine apart and discovered that the engine and transmission were nothing like what was promised, and I basically had to change out both the engine and transmission,” said Kealoha. With John’s guidance, Elena took the VW completely apart and then carefully worked it back up, replacing all the geriatric components with mostly all new MSD Volkswagen parts.
Elena’s VW has a 2276 engine with a weighted pulley, two 48 IDA Webber carburetors, a customized exhaust system made by JB’s repair and wheelie bars. The VW also has a GeneBerg shifter and line lock to control the fluid to the front brakes for an instant release on the starting line. There is more to this VW engine than is described here but due to the element of competition in racing, the rest shall remain a secret.
The Brock ‘ohana racing team call themselves the “1/4 mile smile racing team” and everyone proudly wears a shirt displaying their name. John Brock takes great care to support each member of the team by teaching them how to maintain their race cars, thereby becoming independent racers and mechanics.
Elena Kealoha’s best racing time is 12.4 seconds in the quarter mile and she has a healthy collection of racing trophies which are all proudly displayed in her mother’s camouflage clothing shop alongside JB’s repair office.
Asked how long she would keep her ’56 Shelly bug, Kealoha replied, “I’m hoping to hold on to this for the rest of my life. A lot of people say, “I had one of those, no one says I still have one from 50 years ago, so I’m hoping to hold on to her.”
Anyone wishing to share their classic auto may find out more information by contacting at Richard Aki at 482-0688 or Harvey Maeda at 651-2813 or via e-mail at harveyskoi@juno.com.
Watch video
footage online
of this classic 1956 Volkswagon in action as part of The Garden Island’s recurring series on Kaua‘i’s Classic Car Club and check back each week for a new classic.
