Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, John Hanas has lived in Deland Florida for the past 22 years. John owns and operates Salt Shaker Motor Sports with his wife Karen. Salt Shaker Motor Sports is a small company handling offshore performance boats and other limited motor sports.

John's interest in motor sports stems from a career based in the automotive/truck/marine field. John attended a technical college for auto mechanics then furthered his education at Pitt University where he achieved a teaching certificate. He began his career as a line technician then went on to teach auto mechanics to learning disabled high school students. John then furthered his career at the corporate level with a national automotive company.

John has been involved in some type of competitive motor sports since his high school days when he began building and racing street rods. This evolved into a passion for drag racing where he acquired numerous titles. John was then introduced to powerboat racing when he built an engine for one of the circuit's offshore teams.

From 1991 through 1997, John entered some local "Run what you Brung" races and was a crew member for several offshore teams.

During 1998 he teamed up with Solid Gold Offshore, running a new Scarab. After winning a couple of races, the offshore racing bug had bitten.

In 1999 through 2001, John decided it was time to campaign his own boat. Of course, the boat chosen was a Scarab. This netted three successful racing seasons.

2002 he teamed up with Nigel Hook as crew chief and co-driver for the pro series Scarab. This combination brought us three championships for the 2002 year.