Zamboni machine draws strange infatuation from fans all across world

No one, not even those who feel so strongly about it, can explain the reasons for this love affair.

There have been odes written about it. There have been songs dedicated to it. Countless people want to touch it.

While this object of fascination isn't a religious artifact, don't tell those who worship the Zamboni.

For nearly 50 years, the Zamboni has been a part of our sports consciousness. It's that plodding, odd-looking fixture seen at every hockey game, gliding around the arena, leaving a glimmering sheet of ice behind.

Frank Zamboni built the first ice resurfacing machine in 1949 from war surplus materials. That original machine, known as the Model A, was on display Thursday at The Mirage as part of the Ice Skating Institute Exposition.

"We repeatedly get people who come up and say 'Gee, I'd like to drive that thing,'" Richard Zamboni said.

"It's been really fascinating. It's amazed us."

Richard Zamboni now runs the Frank J. Zamboni Co. in Paramount, Calif., where the first machine was built out of necessity.

Little did he know it would revolutionize ice recreation and turn into an international phenomenon. The company now possesses just one of the many web sites devoted to the Zamboni. Other sites are named "Zen of Zamboni: The Art of Ice Resurfacing," "Zamboni! Zamboni! Zamboni!" and "Zambonis Are Cool."

Theresa Loong's web site reads more like a love letter than a reference source.

"Zamboni: It rolls off the tongue like a Buddhist chant," she wrote. "Zamboni: A wonderful, magical, frivolous word. Rich with vowels, consonants, pleasurable mouth contortions ... It's easy to get carried away."

The Zamboni family, however, can't explain why their creation casts such a spell.

"It's gotten a little significance my dad hadn't planned on. That's for sure," Richard Zamboni said. "I don't think he intended for it to have any.

"I'm sure the name has a little to do with it. If it was Smith or Brown it might have been a little different. But Zamboni is a bit of an unusual name."

When Frank Zamboni opened the Iceland Skating Rink in 1940, the only method available to smooth the ice was an arduous process entailing five men, a blade-pulling tractor and a hose. It took about 90 minutes.

Then the elder Zamboni, despite having only a ninth-grade education, built a machine that would change the way hockey games were played.

"He just thought there had to be a better way," Richard Zamboni said.

The Model A was built with axles from a Dodge army truck, an engine from a Jeep and hydraulic cylinders from World War II aircraft training gear.

"He was really gifted visualizing what would go together and how it would nest," Richard Zamboni said. "But my dad always said 'If it hadn't been me it would have been somebody else.'"

A fleet of over 6,000 Zambonis has since flooded ice arenas in 60 countries. The success earned Frank Zamboni, who died at age 87 in 1988, an honorary engineering doctorate from Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y.

There now are seven different Zamboni models produced in four U.S. and three Canadian plants. The smallest, which is pulled by a tractor, goes for $7,000. The largest, which is used to resurface speed skating ovals, runs upward of $80,000.

The Zamboni Pro Shop sells dozens of items, including complete infant, youth and adult clothing lines. Toy Zambonis with NHL team logos have become popular and valuable collectibles.

"We've been so fortunate in the business, to see it evolve from something so immature," Richard Zamboni said. "It used to be a luxury; now it's a necessity."

Zambonis aren't the only ice resurfacing machines out there. Olympia is a major competitor.

But just ask the Zamboni fanatics out there. They'll insist there's no other.

"I have always wanted to drive the Zamboni," Loong opined. "Give me the choice of a Porsche, a Mustang or the Zamboni, and I'd have to say that I'd opt for the multi-purpose ice resurfacing machine."

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