The weather folks are forecasting sweltering temps throughout race weekend, with predictions of highs in the mid to upper 90s on Sunday. Sadly, you won’t be cooling off with a Bloody Mary from Indy-based Hoosier Momma—unless you’re lucky enough to land in the cushy confines of an IMS suite.
Despite Hoosier Momma’s corporate partnership with IMS this year, and the company’s high on-track visibility (it sponsors Ed Carpenter’s No. 20 car, which qualified 28th), concessions vendors at the Speedway won’t be selling cocktails with the local producer’s Bloody Mary Maker mix—made with Indiana tomatoes—due to “contractual obligations that kept the track from being able to use our product,” says Hoosier Momma co-owner Erin Edds.
But, Edds confirms, for the first time this year, the Bloody Marys available in IMS suites are made with Hoosier Momma’s mix; suite-holders just have to request them in advance. And evidently, they are doing just that. “We’re hearing that there were more Bloody Marys sold just at Pole Day this year than were sold at the 500 last year,” says Edds.
Hoosier Momma’s tangy new Margarita Maker hasn’t made it to IMS at all, in suites or otherwise, and Edds won’t say whether it might be on the Speedway’s menu next May.
But we can hope.
(If you must remain among the unwashed masses in the infield or grandstands this weekend, we recommend that you go to a local retailer and purchase any of Hoosier Momma’s fine products, now available in plastic bottles—no glass allowed!—and take it to the track with you. Don’t forget the cups and top-shelf spirits. And please bring enough to share.)
Edds photo by Tony Valainis; other images courtesy Hoosier Momma.
