Got Milk?: Indy 500 milk choices reveal which drivers are totally unhinged

Believe it or not, there might not be a bigger decision to make ahead of the Indy 500 as one of the 33 drivers than what type of milk you’re chugging and sloshing around the winner’s circle if you win. Yep, that’s just as important a decision as any, and your decision will leave you under a microscope, at least to social media, so you bet it’s one you don’t want to mess up. Do you choose whole milk like most of the field usually does? 

Do you prefer to go with reduced-fat milk or essentially white-colored water with skim milk? Whole milk is the superior choice and preferred option, but this year, Romain Grosjean is the only one with skim milk as the option if he wins. Nothing like a former Formula 1 driver going against the grain. Who knew even milk celebrations could be divided? 

Why the milk celebration is one of the most protected traditions in sport

You’d have to go back nearly 100 years to trace the history of the milk celebration at the Indianapolis 500. Louis Meyer was the one that started the milk tradition in the storied race. After he won his third Indy 500 in 1936, someone handed him a bottle of buttermilk — his childhood preference of milk; odd, I know. Since then, it’s become a spectacle that almost rivals bowl-game pageantry of dumping gallons of Duke’s mayonnaise on the winning coach of the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. 

Meyer chose buttermilk because his mother told him growing up that it would refresh him on a hot day. It makes sense that after spending hours in a hot car driving circles as fast as you can, that same philosophy would ring true. After Meyer’s move for buttermilk, it was indoctrinated that every winner thereafter would celebrate with their milk of choice. 

2026 Indy 500 milk choices

For the 2026 running of the Indy 500, there are only three milk choices with whole milk, 2% milk and skim milk. Here is how the 33 drivers in the race this year chose to celebrate if they end up in victory lane.

Of the 33 drivers in the field for the 2026 Indy 500, 25 of them will drink whole milk on victory lane, while seven would be drinking 2% milk and only one, Romain Grosjean, would be drinking skim milk if he were to win.

What goes into the decision of what milk to choose?

It is literally up to the driver. Before the race, the drivers submit their milk of choice so if they do win, they get personalized bottles to cherish their win and honor a long-standing tradition. Most drivers choose whole milk. Though I suppose you could get exotic and find the most obscure milk option if you really wanted. Maybe we’ll see goat milk or almond milk as the celebratory milk of choice one day. This year though, it will either be whole milk, skim milk or 2% milk. 

The milk tradition isn’t just big for the winners; it has local ties too

As exciting as the milk tradition is for winners of the Indy 500 is, it has also become pivotal to the local community in Indianapolis. The milk celebration is a way for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to stay connected to local communities in Indiana through the American Dairy Association of Indiana. Every year two Indiana dairy farmers are present in the Victory Circle. One delivers the milk to the winner, the other delivers to the winning team. 

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