After winning the 1993 Indianapolis 500, Emerson Fittipaldi initially drank orange juice.
Fittipaldi’s choice broke with the race’s famous Victory Lane tradition, in which winners drink milk. He brought the orange juice himself and used the televised celebration to promote Brazil’s citrus industry; Fittipaldi owned an orange grove and was involved in producing the drink.
The gesture caused controversy because the milk custom had become one of the Indianapolis 500’s most recognizable rituals. Fittipaldi repeatedly pushed away the offered bottle during the live interview, and fans later booed him during driver introductions at Milwaukee, a city strongly associated with Wisconsin’s dairy industry.
The detail sometimes gets simplified into “Fittipaldi refused milk.” More precisely, orange juice was his first drink on camera, but he later took a sip of milk after the broadcast, reportedly at the urging of team owner Roger Penske. The orange juice remains the memorable answer because it came first and deliberately challenged the tradition.