There's something Zen-like about watching a Zamboni, the hulking vehicle whose solemn dance is the feature of every intermission at an ice rink. There's the drone of the machine, the driver's look of intense concentration and the way it glides over chewed-up ice and magically leaves behind a slick, smooth surface.
Cartoonist Charles Schulz, a Minneapolis native who adored ice skating and hockey, once said: "There are three things in life people like to stare at: a flowing stream, a crackling fire and a Zamboni clearing the ice."
Richard Zamboni, president of the Paramount-based company that makes the machines invented by his father, agreed: "It is a little bit mysterious what happens. I get fascinated myself."
Of course, only one thing could be better than watching a Zamboni.
Driving one.
Denizens of the skating world say it's a common fantasy of spectators at hockey games and figure skating competitions.
In homage to the Zamboni, ESPN: the Magazine declared, "Every red-blooded, beer-drinking knucklehead with a painted face wants his turn behind the wheel."
The allure of the lumbering machine has even been immortalized in a song, "I Wanna Drive the Zamboni," by the Gear Daddies: "Since I was young, it's been my dream to drive that there Zamboni machine. I'd get that ice just as slick as could be, and all the kids would look up to me."
Zamboni drivers at hockey games are often cheered and photographed. The driver for the Detroit Red Wings even gives out autographs.
When Jill LeGault, Zamboni driver for Anaheim's Mighty Ducks, takes to the ice, "people like to yell and scream," she said. "Some people know my name. It's fun, it's neat, but it's kind of hard because you need to concentrate on what you're doing out there."
Indeed, even at 9 mph, the Zamboni is not exactly easy to drive.
"It's pretty big and bulky," LeGault said. "Some people compare it to a tractor."
Aside from carefully steering the machine in a pattern that covers all the ice, there are also other variables to control. Drivers adjust the angle of the blade and the flow of the water, and make sure the ice shavings aren't clumping inside the machine.
And usually, the work has to be speedy. In the 15-minute intervals between hockey periods, a Zamboni picks up about 1,500 pounds of ice shavings and leaves behind about 1,200 pounds of water.
