When the winner of the 106th Running of the Indianapolis 500 crosses the yard of bricks to complete his 200th lap at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and pulls into Victory Circle, he will be greeted immediately by Tim Haynes and an ice-cold bottle of milk.
Tim has been chosen by the American Dairy Association Indiana to be their “2022 Veteran Milk Man” representing the dairy industry across Indiana. He says he’s thrilled to hand off the bottle of milk to this year’s winning driver.
“It’s amazing! To be thinking that we’re representing 750 farm families in Indiana and then more all over the country, it’s humbling. The closer we get to the race, the more it kind of keeps settling in, and it’s going to be a hectic day that day especially with the crowd back to full capacity,” he says.
Tim and his family own Superior Dairy near Garrett, Indiana in DeKalb County. The dairy farm was started by Tim’s grandfather in the 1940’s, and the farm has not been without cows since. Today the family farm has around 240 cows.
Tim and his family have continued to use new technology to create a sustainable farm to recycle and save energy.
“One of the big pushes right now with consumers is sustainability. Dairy farmers have been sustainable for a long time with the things that we did. The fact that we use manure to fertilize our fields and then we harvest that crop and we feed it to the animals. It comes full circle,” says Tim.
“[In] our new barn, we recycle water. We have automatic curtains that open and close so fans don’t have to run so all these things we’re doing to help protect the environment and pass it on to the next generation.”
Tim will be joined after the race by Kerry Estes, who is a first-generation dairy farmer in Fountaintown, Indiana in Shelby County. Kerry has been designated by the American Dairy Association Indiana as the “2022 Rookie Milk Man.”
With all the excitement of handing off the milk bottle to this year’s Indy 500 winner, is there a particular driver that Tim is most excited to see win when he hands over that milk bottle?
“Well, I hate to say anything because I’m afraid I’ll jinx somebody. About the time I tell [you] someone, they’ll be the first one out of the race. But, our big thing is we hope everybody [has] a safe race and [we] just look forward to [whomever] the winner is enjoying that drink of milk!”
Click BELOW to hear C.J. Miller’s interview with “2022 Veteran Milk Man” Tim Haynes of Superior Dairy in DeKalb County, Indiana.
Below is the list of drivers in the 2022 Indianapolis 500 and their milk preferences:
