The 24th Indy 500, held in 1936, was the first to feature the Borg-Warner Trophy as the award for the winner, and the first time the winner was given the official pace car. But it’s what winner Louis Meyer did immediately after the race that initiated the most unusual of traditions.
Meyer, born in Manhattan, raised in Los Angeles, had already won the race twice when he pulled his Miller into Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Victory Lane after more than four-and-a-half hours at the wheel on a warm day in May. Having been brought up believing in the nourishing and refreshing qualities of buttermilk, that’s what the fatigued Meyer requested and swigged after becoming the Indy 500’s first three-time winner.
