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The winner of the next 109th Indianapolis 500 will receive a bottle of frozen milk in the Circle of Victory on Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
But why milk? When did the tradition begin?
The origin of the tradition was in 1936, when Louis Meyer, after having won his third Indy 500, sat in his car and had a bottle of whey in his left hand.
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The Penske team pilot, Josef Newgarden, drinks milk on the victory podium after winning the 108 ° Indianapolis 500 in Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 26, 2024. (IMAGN)
But tradition began with an accident. Meyer drinking milk after the victor was not planned.
“It was a hot day. I entered the garage area … and all I could think was a good cold milk serum,” said Meyer, according to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway website.
Meyer grew up in Yonkers, New York, and his mother told him that Buttermilk would refresh him on a warm day. So, after an exhausting race, Meyer wanted the drink that had growing: milk serum.
The milk stuck because Meyer’s moment with milk was caught by a cameraman. An executive of the dairy industry saw Meyer’s images and requested that all the winners of Indianapolis 500 be given milk.
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Milk bottles for 2025 INDY 500 are signed by the conductors of Devlin Defrancesco, Louis Foster and Felix Rosenqvist during the mail of the famous blue envelopes with tickets for the Indianapolis 500 on March 12, 2025. (IMAGN)
Each winner from 1938 to 1941, and then, after the race, returned from a pause due to World War II in 1946, drank milk in the Circle of Victory.
However, there was a time when milk was not the drink delivered to the winners. Wilbur Shaw, who won the Indy 500 in 1937, 1939 and 1940, became president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and implemented some changes.
From 1947 to 1954, the winners of the iconic race received cold water in a silver chalice. However, tradition did not last when Shaw died in a plane crash in 1954, and in 1956 the milk returned.
The Penske team pilot, Josef Newgarden, drinks his milk after winning the Indy 500 on May 26, 2024. (IMAGN)
But milk returned as an accessory award, since the winners were offered $ 400 for drinking milk.
Since then, 69 consecutive winners of the race and 76 general winners have enjoyed the milk in the Circle of Victory.
INDY 500 will be broadcast on May 25 in Fox with coverage from 10 am et. Will also be available for Transmit live on Foxsports.com and the Sports Fox application.
