This Sunday, 33 drivers will strap themselves into purpose-built racing machines to battle one another at speeds over 220 mph for 500 miles. The eventual winner of the Indianapolis 500 will obtain a verify for over $3 million, the race’s tempo automotive, a wreath and a bottle of milk. The sort of milk is chosen by the driving force earlier than the race, with out realizing in the event that they would be the one to set foot in victory lane. Data from over the previous decade reveals there are a number of coincidences between milk choice and the race’s eventual winner.
The Grueling Truth has correlated the information from the American Dairy Association Indiana’s milk choice surveys from the final ten editions of the Indianapolis 500. Drivers are requested in the event that they would favor skim, two p.c, entire milk or in the event that they don’t have a choice.
The first pattern that stands out is that the alternatives general don’t align with race victories. For instance, entire milk is chosen by 52 p.c of drivers however solely accounts for 30 p.c of wins.
Second, each selection has gained the Indy 500 apart from one. Over the previous decade, a driver has by no means chosen skim milk and gained the legendary race. Two p.c is essentially the most profitable selection, with six of the final ten Indy 500 wins regardless of solely being chosen by 36 p.c of drivers. Australian driver Will Power had no choice going into his win in 2018.
The custom of ingesting milk in victory lane on the Indy 500 stemmed from three-time winner Louis Meyer asking for a bottle of buttermilk after his second victory in 1933. Meyer mentioned that whereas rising up his mom instructed him to drink buttermilk to chill down on sizzling days. The apply grew to become a convention throughout the Fifties with sponsorship from the dairy trade.
This 12 months, Romain Grosjean and Katherine Legge are the one drivers within the race to pick skim milk. The preferences are new for each drivers as every chosen entire milk once they final began the race, Grosjean in 2022 and Legge in 2013. As a lot as I want to see the skim milk drought finish, a victory by both driver can be historic for much extra vital causes. It can be Grosjean’s first victory in IndyCar since his transfer into the sequence from Formula 1. Legge can be the primary girl to win the Indianapolis 500 as a driver.
Source: jalopnik.com