The Indianapolis 500, one of the biggest motor sports events in the world, is all about tradition. From the process of qualifying for the race to the grand parade with drivers ahead of the race to the pre-race festivities, it’s an extravagant event.
But no Indy 500 tradition stands out quite like the winning driver celebrating victory with an ice-cold bottle of milk.
Drivers often take a first sip or two before dousing themselves (and anyone in their vicinity) with the whole bottle. It might not be your first drink of choice on a hot day after a 500-mile race around Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but drivers love it.
Plus, it’s tradition.
And drivers actually get to select their milk preference in advance. The American Dairy Association Indiana is in charge of delivering the milk to the winning driver, and polls the competitors in advance so the “milk people” know what bottle to bring out when the race is over.
Drivers’ have their choice of whole milk, two percent or fat-free. Here’s what the drivers selected for milk for the 2021 Indy 500:
No Skim Milk at the 2021 #Indy500.
21 drivers select Whole.
12 drivers select Two Percent.2 write in Buttermilk.
1 for Chocolate.NOTE: Whole, Two Percent or Skim are the official options.#WinnersDrinkMilk // @IMS pic.twitter.com/52Tnembl29
— Indiana Dairy Assoc. (@INDairy) May 23, 2021
As usual, whole milk is the most popular choice among drivers — although, Juan Pablo Montoya would prefer chocolate. And despite the three real choices, someone always wants buttermilk, in true Indy 500 tradition, and this year, that’s what Ed Carpenter and Simona de Silvestro wrote in.
The buttermilk tradition dates back to the 1936 Indy 500, 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, so after Sunday’s 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 often handcuffed to.
And they deliver it to the winning driver for the iconic celebration.
The 105th running of the Indy 500 is Sunday, May 30 at 12:45 p.m. ET on NBC.
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