Why do they drink milk at the Indy 500? Explaining Brickyard tradition

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Milk isn't exactly the first beverage most would think to celebrate with. It's the drink of champions at The Brickyard, though.

For nearly as long as the Indy 500 has been running, winners have happily taken a bottle of milk at Victory Lane. It's a symbol of greatness just like the Borg-Warner Trophy.

The tradition began in 1936 when Louis Meyer asked for buttermilk in Victory Lane. He wound up winning the Indy 500 three times, yet his unique celebration is what he's most remembered for.

After witnessing Meyer down the milk, a dairy industry executive apparently made milk available to every Indy 500 winner from then on. To this day, two Indiana dairy farmers can be found in Victory Lane. One of the farmers hands the milk to the winning driver while the other gives bottles to the winning chief mechanic and team owner.

Now that we know the history, let's take a look back at the last 10 Indy 500 winners' milk choices.

Recent Indy 500 milk preferences​

  • 2025: Alex Palou: whole milk
  • 2024: Josef Newgarden: whole milk
  • 2023: Josef Newgarden: whole milk
  • 2022: Marcus Ericsson: whole milk
  • 2021: Helio Castroneves: 2% milk
  • 2020: Takuma Sato: 2% milk
  • 2019: Simon Pagenaud: whole milk
  • 2018: Will Power: no preference
  • 2017: Takuma Sato: 2% milk
  • 2016: Alexander Rossi: 2% milk
  • 2015: uan Pablo Montoya: whole milk

Very soon we'll see which milk will take Victory Lane this time in Indy.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Why do they drink milk at the Indy 500? Explaining Brickyard tradition

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