Journal-News

It sports a bright blue paint job, lots of sponsor logos, cool chrome wheels, and it goes in circles. This crowd-pleaser isn't a racecar, it's a Zamboni.

"Everybody just loves the Zamboni. We have a contest at each Bombers game and someone wins a ride while I resurface the ice between periods," explained local Zamboni driver Joe Dick.

It might be the name; it just rolls off your tongue, ZAMBONI. And that's where the history of this specialty machine comes in. Frank Zamboni opened an ice rink in California in 1940, and it took a lot of work to scrape away the shavings and keep the surface smooth for the skaters. An inventor of sorts, he used a Jeep chassis to create the first machine, and began production of them in 1949.

His company patented the ice resurfacer, as it's known, and by 1961 he was using his own custom-built chassis.

"They aren't fast, but then again, you're driving on ice," Dick said. "I guess I might be going 10 mph, I don't know. There's no speedometer. Just gauges for the oil and temperature and an hour meter for usage. This one is about 10 years old, and it has 1,400 hours on it." Dick, the operations supervisor for the Nutter Center, figures he may have been behind the wheel for about 700 of those hours.

"Some days I have to drive it 10 or 12 times, depending on how busy the ice rink is. It takes about 12 minutes to resurface the ice."

The Zamboni is four-wheel drive, powered by a Volkswagen engine, converted to operate on natural gas. The tires have studs to improve "handling" on the ice.

"There's no brake pedal, the transmission works in such a way as you let off the accelerator, and it just slows. Lift completely and you just stop," Dick said.

The lower deck behind the machine does three things. It holds a blade that shaves the top off the ice, an auger that collects the shavings and transports it up to the box and then there is a spray of warm water that sheets the ice. It fills in the skate grooves to make the surface smooth.

"I just cut a little bit off the ice; after all, the ice is only an inch thick to begin with," Dick added.

Not cheap, the Nutter Center machine cost about $80,000 when new, and is shipped up to a Zamboni dealer in Michigan each summer for a tuneup and maintenance. Its serial number is in the 5000 range, and according to the Zamboni Co., they have built and sold more than 8,500 of the units.

"I did get to drive it on the road once," Dick said. "One year it was sponsored by McDonalds Racing Team and I drove it over to the McDonald's by Wright State for a promotion. I got a police escort, and you should have seen the

people waving and honking as I cruised by. That was really fun."

To learn more about the Zamboni, go to www.zamboni.com.

To nominate your special vehicle for Wheels of the Week,

contact us at: Wheels, Marketing Publications Department, Dayton Daily News, 1611 S. Main St., Dayton OH 45409 or via e-mail at arollins@coxohio.com. Include your name, daytime telephone number and a photo of your vehicle.

For more photos of the Zamboni, visit the gallery here.