Why does the Indy 500 winner drink milk?

According to the Speedway, it all started with legendary driver Louis Meyer, who won Indy in 1928, 1933 and 1936.

Decades before the advent of sports nutrition specialists and beverages tailored specifically to athletic activities, Meyer apparently preferred to drink buttermilk to refresh himself on hot weather. (Hey, we don’t judge here. Dude won three times. Whatever works.)

At one point, that included a swig in Victory Lane.

List of 2015 Indianapolis 500 racers and their preferred milk of choice.

The Speedway says an executive with the Milk Foundation saw that moment in a newspaper photo and “vowed to make sure it would be repeated in coming years.” The track says there was no Victory Lane milk from 1947-55, but the tradition was revived in 1956 and continues today. (Significant exception: Emerson Fittipaldi, who made a dairy error by drinking orange juice instead in 1993.)