Born in 1949. Weighs in at four tons. Top speed of 9 mph. No,
it's not a Red
Wings defenseman. It's the Zamboni!
zamboni.com
What we now know:
1) The Zamboni didn't spring fully loaded from the fertile brain of SoCal rink operator Frank Zamboni. The first one was more of a suped-up
tractor.
2) Zamboni nearly called his ice-resurfacing
wonder the Paramount (imagine if the name hadn't already been taken).
3) Skating
legend Sonja Henie bought two of the first three.
4) Each machine
takes up to eight months to assemble by hand, but 4a) it takes only eight
seconds to e-mail a Zamboni postcard!
windsor.igs.net/~zamboni/zamboni.htm
Li'l
Jerry Burrell longed to be a Zamboni driver and, yes, now that dream has
come true. Not only did he "drive the big machine" at an Ontario rink, he's
also got a Zam fan site with links to songs, pics of models (not what you
think) and the story of Frank Zamboni's cousin, Nono.
www.dnai.com/~markhull/html/zamboni.htm
Don't miss the heartrending (not really)
story of Brett's younger bro (not
really) Mark Hull, who risked it all (not really) to enter a contest to
take the
Big Z around the Shark Tank in San Jose. He even got to drive it
(not really -- they only let him ride on it).
icesk8.com/access17.htm
For less
than $10 ($126.43 Canadian, more or less), you can bag a Zambeanie,
a Zamboni Xing sign or a fridge magnet. (Okay, not a fridge magnet -- they were
discontinued). We have our eye on the mousepad
with pictures of old warhorses
from Original Six rinks.
harvard-magazine.com/issues/ma99/right.zamboni.html
Sure, it's all fun and games until someone gets hockey lung. Leave
it to the
killjoys at Harvard to blame the Zam for unleashing dangerous
nitrogen dioxide (no, not nitrous oxide, but that's bad for you too,
laughing boy).
thezambonis.com
Just let those Harvard geeks try and ruin this
house party, hosted by these
rambunctious Connecticut indie rockers. (Yeah, we thought they'd play arena
rock, too.) We're into "Hextall," "Hockey Monkey," "Shot ... Score!" and the
power ballad "Wendel."
mtco.com/~slbill/zam.html
Sing along with the Gear Daddies:
Now ever since I was young it's been my dream
That I might drive a Zamboni machine
I'd get the ice just as slick as could be
And all the kids would look up to me
I want to Drive the Zamboni...hey
I want to Drive the Zamboni...Yes I do!
-- from "The Zamboni Song" on the CD Daddies Live Bait
