Previous Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon with the ceremonial glass of milk. Since 1936, it has been tradition for Indy 500 winners to drink milk. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

News Release

INDIANAPOLIS — On Tuesday, May 20, an official from the American Dairy Association of Indiana announced the year’s milk preferences among racers. Of the 33 drivers, 29 chose whole milk and 4 chose 2% for the year’s celebration.

“This Sunday, two Indiana dairy farmers will deliver ice cold whole or 2% milk to the winning team,” an association official said in a since-deleted social media post announcing their preferences.

The following drivers, presented in the running order of the race, requested whole milk:

• 

  Photo from the American Dairy Association of Indiana.

  Robert Shwartzman

• Takuma Sato
• Pato O’Ward
• Scott Dixon
• Felix Rosenqvist
• Alex Palou
• David Malukas
• Christian Lundgaard
• Marcus Ericsson
• Scott McLaughlin
• Kyffin Simpson
• Ed Carpenter
• Santino Ferrucci
• Devlin DeFrancesco
• Sting Ray Robb
• Christian Rasmussen
• Kyle Larson
• Louis Foster
• Callum Ilott
• Kyle Kirkwood
• Nolan Siegel
• Ryan Hunter-Reay
• Jack Harvey
• Colton Herta
• Marco Andretti
• Marcus Armstrong
• Rinus VeeKay
• Josef Newgarden
• Will Power

Only four drivers, Conor Daly, Alexander Rossi, Helio Castroneves and Graham Rahal, chose 2%. This is after five drivers chose 2% as a preference in last year’s race.

There are no drivers who have chosen skim milk this year. Two drivers who chose skim milk in last year’s race, Christian Rasmussen and Christian Lundgaard, switched to whole milk in this year’s race.

The milk tradition began at the Indianapolis 500 in 1936, when Louis Meyer asked for buttermilk after winning the championship. Since then, the winners of each competition have drunk, poured and sprayed milk for the celebration.

Click here for more information about the American Indiana Dairy Association.