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USA Today
25-05-2025
- Automotive
- USA Today
2025 Indy 500: Why does the Indy 500 winner drink milk?
2025 Indy 500: Why does the Indy 500 winner drink milk? Welcome to FTW Explains: a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. You may have heard that the Indy 500 winner celebrates with a bottle of milk and want to know why. We're here to help. It's a quirky but perfectly understandable question some people have about the Indianapolis 500: Why does the winner drink milk? Simply, it's tradition. The Indy 500 is all about tradition, and this one is nearly 100 years old. After taking the Indy 500 checkered flag at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in one of the biggest motorsports races in the world, the winning driver is draped with a giant flowered wreath and handed a bottle of ice-cold milk by the official milk people and the American Dairy Association Indiana. The winner typically takes a couple sips, poses for a few quick photos and then proceeds to dump the rest of the bottle on their head — sometimes pouring milk on others nearby. The whole process makes for some truly spectacular photos, but how and when did this odd tradition start? It's largely thanks to Louis Meyer back in the 1930s. Via Indianapolis Motor Speedway: "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 not an option anymore, as they're limited to whole, 2 percent or skim. However, the American Dairy Association Indiana does have a secret lactose-free option, should a driver request that. For the 2025 Indy 500, the majority of drivers requested whole milk with a handful of drivers wanting 2 percent.
Indianapolis Star
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Indianapolis Star
Pato O'Ward milks a cow on Carb Day ahead of the 109th Indy 500 at IMS
Grace Smith/IndyStar Arrow McLaren driver Pato O'Ward (5) talks with media members after milking Rihanna, a cow from the Greenfield area, on Friday, May 23, 2025, during Carb Day ahead of the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Grace Smith/IndyStar Marla Stone from the Greenfield area walks her cow Rihanna back to the livestock trailer Friday, May 23, 2025, during Carb Day ahead of the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Grace Smith/IndyStar Arrow McLaren driver Pato O'Ward (5) smiles while petting Rihanna, a cow from the Greenfield area, on Friday, May 23, 2025, during Carb Day ahead of the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Grace Smith/IndyStar Arrow McLaren driver Pato O'Ward (5) looks up at the livestock trailer Friday, May 23, 2025, during Carb Day ahead of the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Grace Smith/IndyStar Marla Stone of the Greenfield area brings out her cow Rihanna on Friday, May 23, 2025, during Carb Day ahead of the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Grace Smith/IndyStar Arrow McLaren driver Pato O'Ward (5) smiles while preparing to milk a cow Friday, May 23, 2025, during Carb Day ahead of the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Grace Smith/IndyStar Arrow McLaren driver Pato O'Ward (5) talks with media members after milking Rihanna, a cow from the Greenfield area, on Friday, May 23, 2025, during Carb Day ahead of the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Grace Smith/IndyStar Arrow McLaren driver Pato O'Ward (5) greets Agriculture Affairs Manager of the American Dairy Association Indiana Allie Rieth on Friday, May 23, 2025, during Carb Day ahead of the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Grace Smith/IndyStar Director Of Communications at American Dairy Association Indiana Brooke Williams talks with media members Friday, May 23, 2025, during Carb Day ahead of the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Grace Smith/IndyStar Arrow McLaren driver Pato O'Ward (5) speaks with media members Friday, May 23, 2025, during Carb Day ahead of the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Grace Smith/IndyStar
Indianapolis Star
20-05-2025
- Automotive
- Indianapolis Star
Why does the Indy 500 winner drink milk? 2025 driver choices
It all started with a request from a parched driver in Victory Lane. After Louis Meyer won the 1936 Indianapolis 500 on a particularly warm day, he asked for a glass of buttermilk. In some subsequent years, the winner received a bottle of milk. In 1956, the dairy industry became involved as a sponsor, and the tradition has stuck. Though drivers occasionally request buttermilk, it is not an option. In 2019, Brooke Williams, director of communication for the American Dairy Association Indiana, told IndyStar the organization hasn't offered buttermilk as an option since the poll was started in the mid-90s because it's not the drink it was in 1936. Meyer was drinking milk that was left over from the butter his mother made, according to Williams. That buttermilk was refreshing, rich and creamy. But it no longer exists because dairy products are produced at large plants and the old-fashioned buttermilk is highly perishable. Modern buttermilk is regular milk with a culture (and sometimes salt for flavor) added to it and, while you can drink it, it has a sour taste and is more often used in cooking. "(If) we see a driver drink a full glass of buttermilk before the race," Williams said in 2019, "we'll give them some special (consideration). For now, we're keeping it to the three options (of whole, 2% and skim)." Choice breakdown: 29 go with whole milk, four pick 2% and none pick skim Marco Andretti, whole Marcus Armstrong, whole Ed Carpenter, whole Helio Castroneves, 2% Conor Daly, 2% Devlin DeFrancesco, whole Scott Dixon, whole Marcus Ericsson, whole Santino Ferrucci, whole Louis Foster, whole Jack Harvey, whole Colton Herta, whole Ryan Hunter-Reay, whole Callum Ilott, whole Kyle Kirkwood, whole Kyle Larson, whole Christian Lundgaard, whole David Malukas, whole Scott McLaughlin, whole Josef Newgarden, whole Pato O'Ward, whole Alex Palou, whole Will Power, whole Graham Rahal, 2% Christian Rasmussen, whole Sting Ray Robb, whole Felix Rosenqvist, whole Alexander Rossi, 2% Takuma Sato, whole Robert Shwartzman, whole Nolan Siegel, whole Kyffin Simpson, whole
USA Today
20-05-2025
- Automotive
- USA Today
Every 2025 Indy 500 driver's choice of celebratory milk, should they win
Every 2025 Indy 500 driver's choice of celebratory milk, should they win After completing a strenuous, multi-hour workout, pretty much the last thing anyone would want is a large bottle of milk. Unless, of course, you're the Indianapolis 500 winner, and in that case, a bottle of milk is all they want. After taking the checkered flag to win the biggest IndyCar Series race of the season and one of the biggest motorsports races in the world, the victorious driver will usually celebrate a bit on the track and with their team before pulling the car to the Winner's Circle. INDIANAPOLIS 500 HISTORY: Every Indy 500 champion since 2000 Enter the Veteran Milk Man, a representative of the American Dairy Association Indiana who will hand the winner a chilled bottle of their preferred kind 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 association polls drivers about their celebratory milk choice, should they win The Greatest Spectacle in Racing. 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.) As we've seen over the years, whole milk continues to dominate with 29 of the 33 drivers selecting it. Four — Hélio Castroneves, Conor Daly, Graham Rahal and Alexander Rossi — opted for 2 percent and, surprisingly, zero want skim. INDY 500 STARTING LINEUP: See the 2025 Indy 500 starting grid with Robert Shwartzman on the pole Why does the Indy 500 winner drink milk? 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 109th Indy 500 is set for Sunday, May 25 (green flag at 12:45 p.m. ET) at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
