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The is all about traditions. From the Snake Pit to the Borg-Warner Trophy, the event is filled with history on and off the track. But one tradition that often stands out is the celebration after the 500 grueling miles. In victory lane, the winning driver emerges from his car and is almost immediately handed a glass bottle of milk. What’s that all about? Well, here’s a deep dive into the milk tradition at the Indy 500: When did the Indy 500 milk tradition begin? It all started in 1936 thanks to Louis Meyer. “We were very fortunate in 1936, the driver, Louis Meyer, won the Indy 500 for his third time,” said Brooke Williams, director of communications for the American Dairy Association Indiana. “And at that time, he was actually photographed drinking buttermilk. So he had requested buttermilk. He was from a farm. It was always what he drank to quench his thirst. And so that photograph was taken and the tradition began. “So we’re very fortunate that after all these years, it’s very near and dear to our hearts, but also at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it’s a tradition that won’t go away anytime soon.” Meyer’s victory in 1936 made him the first three-time winner of the Indy 500. That was the 24th running of the race, which was first held in 1911. Coincidentally, the Borg-Warner Trophy also debuted in the same year as when Meyer began the milk tradition. Fourth-generation dairy farmer Alex Neuenschwander might be biased, but he believes the milk ceremony is the most iconic of all Indy 500 traditions. Neuenschwander will serve as the “Veteran Milk Presenter” this year, where he’ll give the bottle to the winning driver in victory lane. “It’s an event all about tradition. There are a lot of them,” Neuenschwander said. “There’s the bricks, the taps, the princesses. I mean, there’s so many traditions that go into it. I guess I’m maybe a little biased, but I definitely think milk’s the coolest and the most well-known. It has to be like the coolest trophy in all the sports.” Why does the Indy 500 winner get milk? When Meyer was photographed with buttermilk in 1936, the tradition was born. Ever since then, the Indy 500 has awarded milk to the winner. While crossing the finish line and taking a victory lap is memorable, Neuenschwander doesn’t feel like the journey is complete until the driver takes his first sip of milk. “The tradition of the milk is the driver, they get into winner’s circle and I don’t feel like they’ve truly won the race until they have that milk and they take at least a few swallows of it,” he said. “… They take at least a few swallows of it. And yeah, quite a bit of it goes on their head, but that whole thing is just a very interesting, very unique and awesome tradition.” Indiana is well-known for its dairy farming, as Williams explained. That has helped contribute to keeping the tradition alive after all these years. “We have a little over 700 dairy farm families in the state and I believe we’re the 10th largest for milk production across the United States,” Williams said. “So not the biggest, of course. I think most people believe that the cows are from California or Wisconsin. But I think that’s what makes our story even cooler, is that we get to share that every dairy farmer has a different story to tell. “[Neuenschwander] is a fourth generation dairy farmer and that’s pretty normal to be working on a dairy farm that was passed on from generation to generation. We do have some dairy farmers that they just decided they wanted to become a dairy farmer. But I think that’s why every year the story is so fun to tell, because no two farmers have a similar story in that regard, though the passion across the board is so strong.” How does the Milk Presenter get chosen? Handing the bottle of milk to the winning driver is a prestigious honor. Since 2005, the American Dairy Association has made it a tradition that two Indiana farmers get to present the milk each year. There’s the Rookie Milk Presenter and the Veteran Milk Presenter. The rookie delivers milk to the winning team owner and chief mechanic, while the veteran hands it over to the winning driver. “We have a milk selection committee,” Williams explained. “It used to be an American Dairy Association Indiana board member. But as you can imagine, there are only so many of those. And so now we have a selection committee. Dairy farmers can nominate other dairy farmers in their community, and now we choose. “It really has opened up who is presenting that milk more and more every year. We know a lot of the farmers here in the state, but you really don’t know what they’re like until, for a month you’re having them do media and taking them and having them be a part of a float and a parade. So, it’s always fun to see how they are on the farm but outside of that lifestyle, as well.” Neuenschwander served as the rookie last year before taking over as the veteran for 2024. “Yeah, so the milk presenter is chosen by our peers really, so it’s such an honor to ...
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