I Got to Drive a Zamboni... and You can too!

Well I went down to the local arena

Asked to see the manager man

He came from his office said "son can I help you?"

Looked at him and said "yes you can."

Haay I wanna drive the Zamboni

Haay I wanna drive the Zamboni

Yes I do.

~ Lyrics from The Zamboni Song by The Gear Daddies

If you've ever been to a hockey game or ice skating at the local rink, you've watched as the "Big Wheel King of the Toys" (from Zamboni by The Road Hammers) clears the ice and makes it nice, and if you're like many hockey fans and ice skaters you've thought that it might be fun to ride... or even better... DRIVE the Zamboni!

Well, now you can! Our family recently experienced "The Ultimate Fan Experience" at Cable Dahmer Arena. 

Every year, we head to the local rink for ice skating over the Christmas break. Many times, Grandpa Ron (my husband's father) has mentioned that he'd love to drive a Zamboni. And, who wouldn't?

The massive machine is impressive and fun. Watching it transform the scuffed and scratched ice back into a beautiful smooth sheet is a bit mesmerizing. 

When I learned about the Zamboni Driving Experience offered in Independence, I knew this would be the ultimate family memory experience for our 2020 holiday season, and it didn't disappoint!

First, we wanted to surprise Grandpa with the revelation that he was going to have the chance to drive the King of the Ice. So, we made plans for him to work on a project with my husband that required picking up supplies in Independence. The two of them drove out to meet "someone" in the parking lot of the arena, and my girls and I headed out to get there first.

When they arrived, they were greeted by four girls piled on top of and around our van singing The Gear Daddies' Zamboni Song (with additional customized lyrics announcing the surprise). Grandpa was overwhelmed by the surprise!

We then headed to the rink for our personal tour and experience led by Jake, the Community Ice Director.

The experience begins with a behind-the-scenes tour where we learned about the process for building the ice rink and how Zambonis work.

Jake showed us the rink that his team prepares for the hockey season starting mid-September. The initial process to build the ice floor begins with cooling the concrete floor for 24 hours until it reaches 16°F. Pipes run beneath the concrete and flow with a brine solution that is about 8°F to help control the floor temperature. Once the concrete is ready, they start laying down clear coats of water. The initial layers are put down with the Jet Ice machine before the Zamboni takes over (once the floor is about 3/4 inch thick). After the clear coat layers are set, they lay down three layers of white paint (a mixture of white powder and water-based paint). The white paint is the base for hockey so they can put down the lines and logos for the game and so the puck will stand out clearly on the ice. Water alone would be too foggy and would not give the crisp look needed for the game. After the layers of white, there are more clear coats.

Then, a crew of 5-10 people spend 18 or more hours measuring the rink to layout the logos and lines, much of which is painted by hand, after using stencils. Sponsorship logos are made of a mesh that is laid on the ice and then covered with additional layers until the final 1 1/4 inch thick floor is complete. For trivia buffs, we calculated that 12,500 gallons of water is used to create the Mavericks rink!

Tip: Catch this Time Lapse video of the process from 2013.

The arena is kept at 50-60°F at all times with the floor during games at 21°F. And, during games, the official Ice Resurfacer of the EHL, the Zamboni (originally invented in 1953) keeps the surface smooth for game time and skate time.

After learning about the rink, Jake showed us the ins and outs of the Zamboni itself. We learned how the blade in the back of the machine cuts off the top layer of ice, pulling the excess snow to the middle of the machine where a vertical auger shoots it forward into the dump tank where it is stored during the resurfacing process. The excess snow is eventually dumped into a tank in the garage where it is recycled to be used again. We learned that the big tank on the Zamboni that stores the excess snow can hold enough for 3,661 traditional snow cones... but I would not recommend it when you think about just how dirty the ice is during hockey games.

The Zamboni driver is able to then control the re-icing process choosing cold water to wash the floor and fill in deep cracks creating a slush that it squeegeed and filled in, and hot water for the top layers because it will freeze faster than cold. The propane operated machine is equipped with two propane fuel tanks, one as the primary tank and one for backup. They typically get through a day per tank. It takes about 8-10 minutes to re-ice the rink during games but can be accomplished in as little as 6 1/2 minutes. 

After learning how the machine works, it was time to drive!

When you book "The Ultimate Fan Experience" at Cable Dahmer Arena.  you may bring one spectator per driver and book a small group to share the experience at the same time (every driver must be at least 18-years-old and have a valid driver's license).

Jake taught us how to drive the Zamboni (note that we only drove, we were not resurfacing the ice during the experience). The vehicle starts at about 10 RPM and can go up to 15 RPM. The driver uses one pedal to accelerate and stop (stopping requires simply lifting your foot from the pedal). The wheel (adorned with a shiny snowflake) has a knob to hold onto with just one hand (as Jake advised). The vehicle does not recenter itself on turns (as a car would) so you have to turn the wheel the entire time. Jake laid out a simple course with orange cones, sat in the side seat, and guided us as we took turns driving. We were each given 5-10 minutes to drive and Grandpa was even given a second turn.

After the adults drove, the girls all climbed aboard for a photo-op.

We love Watch it Made tours and television programs and thoroughly enjoy learning how things work. As a family, this was an educational and fun experience and we highly recommend "The Ultimate Fan Experience" at Cable Dahmer Arena. This is a fantastic bucket list experience that can be enjoyed by the entire family and makes a terrific gift for the adventure enthusiast or hockey fan in your life!

To reserve your experience, call Jessica O'Bryant at 816.442.6126 or register at www.cabledahmerarena.com/events/zamboni.