Louis Meyer - 1936

This is David Story's rendering of 1936 Indianapolis 500 winner Louis Meyer. Meyer became the first three-time champion of the legendary contest, with other victories in 1933 and 1928. As an aside, he is known as the first driver to drink milk in victory lane in 1936. In Meyer's case, his swig was not part of an American Dairy Association promotion, but instead a matter of personal preference. Also, it was buttermilk.
 
This is the text of David's margin notes for his art:
"Louis Meyer started two Indy 500 traditions with his 1936 win. The first was drinking milk after winning the race, a tradition followed by almost all Indy 500 winners since. At the instigation of previous 500 winner Tommy Milton, Meyer received keys to the 1936 Packard pace car, also a tradition since.
 
In 1936, Louis Meyer became the first three-time winner of the Indy 500, and he set a race record while doing it. But, it wasn't an easy road for him to get to the finish line. Meyer cracked two cylinder blocks trying to qualify and needed to have a third one flown in from the West coast. After getting the third engine block installed, he qualified at a speed of 114.71 mph, securing the 28th position on the starting grid. That was the farthest back of any winner that has ever started the race. Meyer, with mechanic Lawson Harris, finished a lap ahead of Ted Horn. He used less than 37.5 gallons of fuel to cover the race's 500 miles."