Monday Milestone: Got Milk?
This Week in History:
1936, May 30
Louis Meyer wins the 24th Indianapolis 500 beginning one of the strangest traditions in world sport.
“Indy makes the race driver. You become famous when you come here”
– Rodger Ward
American sport has a habit of producing curious traditions.
Each year in April, in Augusta, rather than just a trophy, the victor of the US Masters wears a jacket. Weeks later the Kentucky Derby winner is shrouded in a wreath of roses. And by the end of May every year, a NASCAR driver drinks a bottle of milk.
Milk? Really? Why?
The Milestone stops the Delorean outside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in 1936, where on the Memorial Day weekend thirty-three cars are doing battle around the 2.5 mile oval track to find out.
The 24th annual International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was special that year. It was the first year that the Borg-Warner trophy was to be awarded, a prize that has become one of the most coveted pieces of motoring silverware, still in existence today. Not only that, it was also decided that year that the Packard 120, the pace car for that particular Indy 500. So when Louis Meyer crossed the line for his third victory over the past four years, he described his winnings as akin to winning an Olympic medal.
But then a couple of things happened. Firstly, just like his previous two victories, Meyer had requested a glass of buttermilk in the immediate aftermath of the race. Forget the champagne. Meyer saw buttermilk as being healthy and in his own words, following “good ol’ mom’s advice” as she had told him it would refresh him, and he was once again handed a bottle in his victory celebrations.
Then, unlike in the previous two victories, this year Meyer was snapped in a photograph as he drank his beloved buttermilk, holding up three fingers to signify his third victory. That was enough to ensure the greatest part of his Indy 500 legacy. That photograph would begin the tradition.
Whilst today there are several Indianapolis customs that surround what is today known in American motorsport as the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, (something that the organisers of the Bathurst 1000, or the 24 hours of Le Mans might contest), with the Snake Pit, and the pork tenderloin sandwiches, not to mention the perceived superstitions of eating peanuts and having the surname Smith, one thing that has stayed through the decades is the custom of drinking milk.
Although, unfortunately in this day and age, not everyone can enjoy a simple tradition and in more recent times some animal activist groups have considered the drinking of milk as a ‘beverage born of cruelty to baby calves’which perhaps says more about some of those groups than anything.
For the rest of us though, we can pay special attention to the winner of the Indianapolis 500 as this Memorial weekend the victor is crowned, and we can remember the drinking habits of Louis Meyer, and the tradition that he began back in the 1930s.
But the motivation for the victor bending down and kissing the ‘yard of brick’ otherwise known as the start/finish line at the end of the race will, for now, remain a mystery.
Milestone Five: Some of the strangest sporting traditions
5. Jersey swapping – especially in international matches in a variety of sports, is said to have begun when France thumped England 5-0 in a soccer match in 1931. As a sign of respect, players swapped jerseys to commemorate the victory.
4. Gatorade – Both the New York Giants and Chicago Bears claim to have begun the tradition of dousing their coach in Gatorade during the mid-1980s.
3. Storming the field – sadly the days of an AFL full forward kicking a hundred goals in a season have dissipated as the modern game has changed. But just like when Lance Franklin kicked a ton in 2008, this is one tradition the fun police are yet to eliminate.
2. The Haka – if there is a single reason why New Zealand could be a better country than Australia, it’s the Haka. The traditional Maori war cry has been the envy of Australians. John Williamson singing Waltzing Matilda in response just doesn’t seem to cut it.
1. Octopus throwing – the best weird tradition though has to be when Detroit Red Wings fans throw octopi onto the ice. This is did not begin from drunken fans, rather it was after the Cusimano brothers who owned a fish shop began the tradition when the Red Wings won the 1952 Stanley Cup.
With thanks to Robert Laberge/Getty Images North America for the picture
