It all started with a request from a parched driver in Victory Lane.
After Louis Meyer won the 1936 Indianapolis 500 on a particularly warm day, he asked for a glass of buttermilk.
In some subsequent years, the winner received a bottle of milk. In 1956, the dairy industry became involved as a sponsor, and the tradition has stuck.
Why can’t Indy 500 winners drink buttermilk now?
Though drivers occasionally request buttermilk, it is not an option. In 2019, Brooke Williams, director of communication for the American Dairy Association Indiana, told IndyStar the organization hasn’t offered buttermilk as an option since the poll was started in the mid-90s because it’s not the drink it was in 1936.
Meyer was drinking milk that was left over from the butter his mother made, according to Williams. That buttermilk was refreshing, rich and creamy. But it no longer exists because dairy products are produced at large plants and the old-fashioned buttermilk is highly perishable.
Modern buttermilk is regular milk with a culture (and sometimes salt for flavor) added to it and, while you can drink it, it has a sour taste and is more often used in cooking.
“(If) we see a driver drink a full glass of buttermilk before the race,” Williams said in 2019, “we’ll give them some special (consideration). For now, we’re keeping it to the three options (of whole, 2% and skim).”
Here is the list of milk for the 2026 Indianapolis 500 drivers
Indy 500 milk choice breakdown
(27 choose whole milk, 5 go with 2%, and just 1 picks skim)
Whole: Jacob Abel, Marcus Armstrong, Ed Carpenter, Caio Collet, Conor Daly, Scott Dixon, Marcus Ericsson, Santino Ferrucci, Louis Foster, Dennis Hauger, Jack Harvey, Kyle Kirkwood, Katherine Legge, David Malukas, Scott McLaughlin, Josef Newgarden, Alex Palou, Will Power, Christian Rasmussen, Sting Ray Robb, Felix Rosenqvist, Alexander Rossi, Mick Schumacher, Kyffin Simpson, Rinus VeeKay.
2%: Helio Castroneves, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Christian Lundgaard, Pato O’Ward, Graham Rahal.
Skim: Romain Grosjean
Why didn’t Alex Palou pour milk on his head after winning the Indy 500?
It’s common in recent years for Indianapolis 500 winners to take a sip of milk, then pour it on his head. In 2025, race winner Alex Palou, on the advice of fans and team members, kept himself dry.
“There’s been a lot of people that had told me not to do that, and then I was like, OK, maybe I get too excited and I do it,” Palou said. “I was close, but then I thought, ‘Oh, man, I’m going to be with the milk all over me for like the next five, six hours.'”
Zion Brown is IndyStar’s motorsports reporter. Follow him at @z10nbr0wn. Get IndyStar’s motor sports coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Motor Sports newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: First Indy 500 winner who drank milk had buttermilk, but it’s not an option anymore. Here’s why
Reporting by Scott Horner, Zion Brown and Chris Sims, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
