The Indianapolis 500 is one of the most important motorsport races and as such to be part of the Triple Crownnext to Monaco GP of F1 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The winner goes down in four-wheel history and in celebrating him there are iconic gestures that are different from the rest of the events. Like the celebration that replaces the uncorked bottle of champagne with the traditional drink of milk reserved for the pilot who crosses the brickyard in first position. The tradition, the books say, the beginning, in 1936 the American louis meyer, three-time winner of the 500, who following his mother’s advice drank milk to recover from the efforts after a race. The gesture had great repercussions in the media and after comings and goings with the milky celebration, with the support of the Milk Foundation it became customary since 1956. Only Emerson Fittipaldi he broke the norm in 1993 by swapping milk for orange juice. The reason, he had a citrus plantation in Brazil.
Tradition forces competitors to choose three types of milk: whole, semi-skimmed either skimmed For the 107th edition of the 500 miles which takes place on sunday (18:45, Movistar Sports) there is already a choice: 28 pilots, among them Alex Palou, poleman and clear applicant, they have chosen the whole variety, three the semi-skimmed milk and two, without skimmed.
In total there are 33 applicants and history says that whoever starts from pole position is the one with the best chance of winning, 21 wins from first position, and therefore drinking milk and stamping his face engraved on a trophy Borg-Warner He is 1.63 meters tall and weighs 50 kilos. The original cup remains on the circuit and the winner is given a lighter and smaller replica (Baby Borg) of 45 cm. So far there are 74 faces embedded, none of a Spanish pilot. But this 2023, one goes for it. And for his bottle of whole milk: Álex Palou.
