Who wants milk after a usually hot and always physically taxing 500-mile race? Well, whoever wins Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 will definitely want a big jug of milk.
Typically, following an immediate on-track celebration, the Indy 500-winning driver pulls the car into Victory Lane, and a representative from the American Dairy Association Indiana — also known as the “Veteran Milk Man” — hands the driver a bottle of milk. The winner usually takes a few sips before dumping it on their head and maybe splashing some folks nearby.
Ahead of each Indy 500, the American Dairy Association Indiana polls drivers for their preferred milk choice if they end up winning it all. The options are simple — whole, 2 percent or fat-free milk — though many drivers hilariously would like a few more options. (There is a secret lactose-free option, should a driver request that.)
The American Dairy Association Indiana released the results of its 2022 milk poll Tuesday, and yet again, the most popular choice is whole milk.
Of the 33 drivers, 28 selected whole milk, while three went with two percent and two would like skim. No chocolate, strawberry or buttermilk write-ins this time, it seems.
28 drivers select WHOLE, 3 drivers select 2% and 2 drivers select SKIM in this year's #Indy500 Milk Preference Poll.
Our Indiana dairy farmer "Milk Presenters" will be ready with all 3 options on ice!#WinnersDrinkMilk // @IMS pic.twitter.com/Ztc9XRjUdn
— Indiana Dairy Assoc. (@INDairy) May 23, 2023
After the milk poll was released Tuesday, Dreyer and Reinbold Racing announced Graham Rahal — who initially didn’t make the Indy 500 field Sunday — will replace injured Stefan Wilson. As a result, Rahal’s milk choice isn’t listed.
So, why milk? The answer is simple: It’s a nearly 100-year-old tradition. And the many traditions of the Indy 500 and Indianapolis Motor Speedway help make the 500 the magical event it is — milk and all.
Decades ago when the milk tradition began, it started with buttermilk and driver Louis Meyer. As Indianapolis Motor Speedway explains:
“Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Louis Meyer regularly drank buttermilk to refresh himself on a hot day and happened to drink some in Victory Lane as a matter of habit after winning the 1936 race. An executive with what was then the Milk Foundation was so elated when he saw the moment captured in a photograph in the sports section of his newspaper the following morning that he vowed to make sure it would be repeated in coming years. There was a period between 1947-55 when milk was apparently no longer offered, but the practice was revived in 1956 and has been a tradition ever since.”
Buttermilk is no longer an option, but after the Indy 500, the designated “milk people” from the American Dairy Association Indiana will pull one of three bottles — one for each milk option — from a chilled cooler, which one of the milk people is sometimes handcuffed to. And they deliver it to the winning driver for the iconic celebration.
The 107th Indy 500 is set for Sunday, May 28 (green flag at 12:45 p.m. ET) at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
