“It’s such a great tradition here and to be honored, to be that guy, in front of this amount of people around this racetrack would be incredible. I don’t think you can really describe it.”
Well, he certainly can now. That was back-to-back Indy 500 champion Josef Newgarden 12 years ago speaking with our Andy Eubank after receiving his Fastest Rookie Award at the track from the American Dairy Association Indiana.
Newgarden accepted his bottle of whole milk from Indiana dairy farmer Alex Neuenschwander, co-owner of Neu-Hope Dairy in Bluffton, after passing Pato O’Ward on the final lap of the rain delayed Indy 500 Sunday night.
Eight years later, he joined us again at the Fastest Rookie Award presentation and was still in search of that first Indy 500 win, but his love of milk kept him close with the dairy folks. He and I shared this conversation.
“If you’re running the Indianapolis 500, you think about winning the milk at the end of the day. Obviously, the Borg Warner trophy, which is the famous trophy of the Indianapolis 500 with everybody’s faces on it, that’s a very cool deal, but the traditions are what make the Indy 500 what it is, and you automatically think of the winner drinking that jug of milk, which is so cool. Just to be able to have a sip of that, pour it all over you, the iconic images that have been created at the Indianapolis 500 because of that tradition.”
Newgarden has great respect for Indiana and U.S. dairy farmers. Ahead of last year’s win, he visited the dairy farm of Kerry Estes in Shelby County. You can see video of that below. Newgarden was then very happy to see Estes with that bottle of milk in Victory Circle at the end of the race.
“Dairy Farmers absolutely work their butts off to produce the necessary milk that we all need in society to keep our lives moving forward and to provide the nutritious milk that people drink every day or use every day in food. But obviously for us, we’re very thankful to that group for honoring this tradition of the 500 and providing that tasty milk at the end of the race if you’re hopefully the lucky winner. So, thanks to all of the dairy farmers in the United States and certainly the American Dairy Association Indiana!”
Newgarden will receive $10,000 from the American Dairy Association Indiana in addition to his other winnings from the race.
