YORKTOWN, Indiana – Julie Harman Vance loaded up her delivery van full of floral arrangements early on Saturday. On any other Saturday, the owner of Buck Creek in Bloom would be making deliveries for weddings, funerals, proms and any other event that needs a special touch that only live plants and flowers can bring. But on this Saturday, May 25, Vance is making a special delivery to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
It’s the Borg-Warner Wreath, the first item that is given to the winning driver of the Indianapolis 500 in Victory Lane. As the victor is climbing out of his car, the winner’s wreath is place over his neck and the famed Borg-Warner Trophy is held by two men – known as “Yellow Shirts” and placed behind the winner on the engine cover. More traditions follow, such as the famed “Bottle of Milk” from the American Dairy Association of Indiana.
When Harman-Vance arrives at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway early the day before the race, she doesn’t need a credential. All she has to do is tell the security guard at the gate what is inside the van and where it’s being delivered. “I have a routine,” Vance told NBCSports.
com. “I go to the same gate and tell them I’m in tote with the winner’s wreath, and they flag me into the Pagoda, and we place that in the in the Green Room and it sets there until race morning with guards. “I feel like it’s my all -access pass.
If I have that wreath in front of me, I can walk about anywhere. It draws attention.
