In the past few days,  students all across Newcastle upon Tyne in the United Kingdom have been pouring plastic jugs of milk over their heads in public places -- on the grounds of Newcastle University, in streets, up a tree. Of course, it's gone viral.

Is this a tribute to the Indianapolis 500 and recent winners dousing themselves with the traditional drink or a replacement to planking -- lying flat in unusual places as was exhibited by IZOD IndyCar Series drivers during a rainy day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2011 -- as the newest craze?

Either way, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway sends its regards.

A little history: Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Louis Meyer regularly drank buttermilk to refresh himself on a hot day and happened to drink some in Victory Lane as a matter of habit after winning the 1936 race. An executive with what was then the Milk Foundation was so elated when he saw the moment captured in a photograph in the sports section of his newspaper the following morning that he vowed to make sure it would be repeated in coming years.

There was a period between 1947-55 when milk was apparently no longer offered, but the practice was revived in 1956 and has been a tradition ever since.