There’s No Race Quite Like Indy 500

It might seem hokey in this day and age that immediately after the Indianapolis 500, the winning driver gulps a quart of milk from a glass bottle.

But don’t tell that to Dan Wheldon.

“It’s one of the fondest memories of my life,” said Wheldon, the 27-year-old Englishman who won the 500 a year ago and not only drank the milk, but poured it over his head.

“Driving around after the checkered flag, it’s at first difficult to believe [you won],” he said. “I don’t know why, but you’re still not sure. But when you drink the milk ... they don’t let just anyone drink the milk.”

It’s one of the traditions that set the 500 apart and help draw even casual motor sports fans to the race every Memorial Day weekend.

With the 90th running of the 500 scheduled Sunday, here’s a look at some of those traditions and how they began, according to Indianapolis Motor Speedway historian Donald Davidson:

The milk -- Thank Louis Meyer’s mom for this one. Meyer, a three-time winner of the race in the 1920s and ‘30s, followed his mother’s advice to drink buttermilk to refresh him on hot days.

After his third victory in 1936, a dairy industry executive saw a newspaper photograph of Meyer taking his post-race swallow, and there’s been milk in Victory Lane ever since.

The winner’s wreath -- With the milk comes a giant wreath, which first appeared in 1960 on the shoulders of winner Jim Rathmann. The wreaths were the creation of the late William J. Cronin, an Indianapolis florist who also was a floral consultant for the Rose Parade in Pasadena and other events.

For most of the last three decades, the wreath has featured ivory-colored Cymbidium orchids with burgundy tips, plus 33 miniature checkered flags, intertwined with red, white and blue ribbons.

“Back Home in Indiana” -- It’s sung before the race each year, usually by Jim Nabors, the singer-actor who has been doing it since 1972. Before that, its singers included Mel Torme, Vic Damone and Dinah Shore.

It was first sung in 1946 by James Melton, an opera singer and classic-car collector, who sang the tune with the Purdue University marching band, which traditionally accompanies the singer.

Balloons before the start -- Thousands of multicolored balloons are released during the final notes of “Back Home in Indiana.” The tradition is believed to have started in 1947 at the suggestion of Mary Fendrich Hulman, wife of the speedway’s late owner Tony Hulman.

Yard of bricks -- The 2.5-mile speedway originally was covered with crushed rock and tar, but that was abandoned after only a few days and replaced with 3.2 million bricks. That’s how the track became known as the Brickyard.

Over the decades the bricks were covered with asphalt, but a strip of the original bricks -- three feet wide -- remains at the start-finish line and continues into the infield where it can be viewed by fans. (When NASCAR runs its annual race at the speedway, the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, it’s also become tradition for the winner to kneel and kiss the bricks.)

Carb Day -- It’s the Friday before the race, when drivers are given one last opportunity to practice with the car in race-day condition, or “trim.”

Originally, it was known as “carburetion day,” because teams would use the last practice mainly to tweak the carburetors in the cars’ engines. But the arrival of fuel-injection systems in the late 1940s eventually made carburetors obsolete; they were last used at Indy in 1963.

“Gentlemen, start your engines!” -- The command was made famous by three-time 500 winner Wilbur Shaw (1937, ‘39, ‘40), and later president of the speedway. Each year since 1955, it’s been given by a member of the Hulman-George family that owns the track.

In the years when a female driver has competed -- starting with Janet Guthrie in 1977 -- it’s been changed to “Lady and gentlemen,” and in 2000 it was “Ladies and gentlemen” because Lyn St. James and Sarah Fisher drove the race that year.

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Last Laps

* NASCAR Nextel Cup points leader Jimmie Johnson will try to win his fourth consecutive Coca-Cola 600 Sunday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway near Charlotte, N.C.

The El Cajon driver also has won five of the last six Cup points races at the speedway overall, and he won last week’s All-Star Challenge at the track.

* In drag racing, the National Hot Rod Assn.’s Powerade series moves to Topeka, Kan., this weekend for the O’Reilly Summer Nationals. Melanie Troxel leads the points in top fuel, and Ron Capps leads in the funny car division.

* Damion Gardner of Concord, Calif., brings a 39-point lead over Cory Kruseman of Ventura as the USAC/CRA Sprint Car series returns Saturday night to half-mile Perris Auto Speedway.

The VRA 360 sprinters are back at Ventura Raceway, after a visit to Bakersfield last weekend, and drivers in the NASCAR Grand National Division, AutoZone West series, headline the Saturday program at Irwindale Speedway.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Starting lineup

The starting grid for Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 (r-rookie; field average: 222.688 mph):

*--* Pos. No. Driver Chassis MPH ROW 1 1. (6) Sam Hornish Jr. Dallara 228.985 2. (3) Helio Castroneves Dallara 228.008 3. (10) Dan Wheldon Dallara 227.338 ROW 2 4. (9) Scott Dixon Dallara 226.921 5. (11) Tony Kanaan Dallara 226.776 6. (4) Vitor Meira Dallara 226.156 ROW 3 7. (55) Kosuke Matsuura Dallara 225.503 8. (8) Scott Sharp Dallara 225.321 9. (26) r-Marco Andretti Dallara 224.918 ROW 4 10. (16) Danica Patrick Panoz 224.674 11. (2) Tomas Scheckter Dallara 224.659 12. (20) Ed Carpenter Dallara 224.548 ROW 5 13. (1) Michael Andretti Dallara 224.508 14. (15) Buddy Rice Panoz 224.393 15. (90) r-Townsend Bell Dallara 224.374 ROW 6 16. (7) Bryan Herta Dallara 224.179 17. (27) Dario Franchitti Dallara 223.345 18. (52) Max Papis Dallara 222.058 ROW 7 19. (51) Eddie Cheever Dallara 222.028 20. (91) r-P.J. Chesson Dallara 221.576 21. (14) Felipe Giaffone Dallara 221.542 ROW 8 22. (92) Jeff Bucknum Dallara 221.461 23. (41) Larry Foyt Dallara 221.332 24. (21) Jaques Lazier Panoz , 221.151 ROW 9 25 (5) Buddy Lazier Dallara 220.922 26 (17) Jeff Simmons Panoz 220.347 27 (31) Al Unser Jr. Dallara 219.388 ROW 10 28. (12) Roger Yasukawa Panoz 218.793 29. (88) Airton Dare Panoz 218.170 30. (97) Stephan Gregoire Panoz 217.428 ROW 11 31. (61) r-Arie Luyendyk Jr. Panoz 216.352 32. (98) PJ Jones Panoz 215.816 33. (18) r-Thiago Medeiros Panoz 215.729

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This week

INDY RACING LEAGUE

Indianapolis 500

* When: Sunday (Channel 7, 10 a.m.)

* Where: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (rectangular oval, 2.5 miles, 9 degrees banking in turns).

* Race distance: 500 miles, 200 laps.

* Last year’s winner: Dan Wheldon.

NASCAR NEXTEL CUP

Coca-Cola 600

* When: Sunday, race (Channel 11, 2 p.m.).

* Where: Lowe’s Motor Speedway (quad-oval, 1.5 miles, 24 degrees banking in turns), Concord, N.C.

* Race distance: 600 miles, 400 laps.

* Last year’s winner: Jimmie Johnson.

NASCAR BUSCH

Carquest Auto Parts 300

* When: Saturday, race (FX, 3:30 p.m.)

* Where: Lowe’s Motor Speedway (quad-oval, 1.5 miles, 24 degrees banking in turns), Concord, N.C.

* Race distance: 300 miles, 200 laps.

* Last year’s winner: Kyle Busch.

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS

City of Mansfield 250

* When: Today, qualifying, 3:30 p.m.; Saturday, race (Speed Channel, 11 a.m.).

* Where: Mansfield Motorsports Speedway (oval, .50 miles; turns: compound banking 12-14-16 degrees), Mansfield, Ohio.

* Race distance: 125 miles, 250 laps.

* Last year: Bobby Hamilton.

* Next race: Dover 200, June 2, Dover, Del.

FORMULA ONE

Monaco Grand Prix

* When: Saturday, qualifying (Speed Channel, 5 a.m.); Sunday, race, 5 a.m. (Channel 2, 9:30 a.m., tape).

* Where: Monte Carlo street circuit (2.068 miles).

* Race distance: 161.304 miles, 78 laps.

* Last year’s winner: Kimi Raikkonen.

NHRA

O’Reilly Summer Nationals

* When: Today, qualifying, 2:30 p.m.; Saturday, qualifying, 10 a.m. (ESPN2, 5 p.m., tape); Sunday, eliminations, 9 a.m. (ESPN2, 7 p.m., tape).

* Where: Heartland Park, Topeka, Kan.

* Last year’s winners: Dave Grubnic (top fuel), John Force (funny car) and Greg Anderson (pro stock).