Had only a brief driving career, as he was better known as a mechanic, engineer and car builder. He only raced once at Indianapolis, in his own car but was extremely lucky to survive a freak accident. Louis Chevrolet's wheel came off and severed a copper wire which had been put in place for a revolutionary new timing system. The wire snapped and hit Shannon in the neck, severing a vein. Amazingly, Shannon managed to complete the lap, despite bleeding heavily, with help from the fast-thinking riding mechanic EE Rawlings. Even more amazingly Elmer survived and made a full recovery, although he never raced again. The copper wire timing mechanism also never appeared again.

Biography last updated 27 Dec 2015