Milka Duno

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Milka Duno

Duno at Barber Motorsports Park in 2006
Nationality Venezuela Venezuelan
Date of birth April 22, 1972 (1972-04-22) (age 37)
Place of birth Caracas
2009 IRL IndyCar Series
Debut season 2007
Current team Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
Car no. 23
Former teams SAMAX Motorsport
Starts 27
Wins 0
Poles 0
Best finish 20th in 2007
Previous series
2005-2008
2004
2003
2001-2002
2002
2000
1999
1998
Rolex Sports Car Series
American Le Mans Series
World Series Light
World Series by Nissan
Formula Nissan 2000
Barber Dodge Pro Series
Women's Global GT Series
Venezuelan Porsche Supercup

Milka Duno (born April 22, 1972 in Caracas) is a Venezuelan race car driver who currently competes in the IndyCar Series. She is best known for holding the record of highest finish for a female driver in the 24 Hours of Daytona.[1]

Duno is a former model and has thus attracted much attention.[2] Her racing career is unusual because of her late start; she did not start racing until she was 24[3] and her experience prior to racing was mostly academic; Duno holds master's degrees in Organizational Development, Naval Architecture, Maritime Business, and Marine Biology,[3] and she has prior experience working as a naval engineer.[4]

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life & career

She began her career as a driver in Venezuela in 1996, finishing 2nd in the Venezuelan GT Championship. In 1998, Duno placed 4th in the Venezuelan Porsche Supercup Championship.

In 1999, she moved to the United States and attended advanced racing schools and drove in the Barber Dodge Pro Series in 2000. Milka was the first woman in history to win a Ferrari Challenge Race in the USA and also she won her first Series Championship - The Panoz GT Series.

Later in 2000, Duno made her American Le Mans Series debut, she was the first woman to finish in a class podium on this championship. She made her 24 Hours of Daytona debut the next year and her 24 Hours of Le Mans debut a year later.

In 2001 and 2003, Duno also competed in the World Series by Nissan open-wheel series in Europe, she became the first women to score points in this Championship. Also in 2001, She was crowned Vice-Champion Driver in the LMP 675 Clas of the American Le Mans Series, she scored an impressive five wins in this class - including the prestigious 10 hour Petit Le Mans - becoming the first woman to score a class win in this major international sportscar competition. In 2004 She scored yet another LMP 675 class win in Petit Le Mans.

Beginning in 2004, Duno competed full time in the Rolex Grand-Am series driving a Pontiac-Riley Daytona Prototype for the Howard-Boss Motorsports team. Duno joined the SAMAX Motorsport team in 2006. For the 2007 24 Hours of Daytona, Duno teamed up with Ryan Dalziel, Darren Manning, and her regular driving partner, Patrick Carpentier; with a second place finish, Duno became the highest-finishing female in the history of the prestigious race.In the Rolex Sports Car Series Milka scored three impressive and historical overall wins - twice at Homestead-Miami Speedway and once at Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant in Quebec: With her first Rolex Series won at Miami she became the first woman in history to win overall a major international sportscar race in North America, Milka was also the first woman to pilot the fastest cars in the series - the Daytona Prototype. During her time competing in the Rolex Series Milka earned three overall wins, seven podium appereances, ten top five finishes and eighteen top ten finishes. No doubt that Milka is the most successful female sportscar racer in history.

[edit] Indy Racing League

Milka Duno testing at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2008.

[edit] 2007

On December 14, 2006, car owner Larry Cahill announced that he had signed Duno to drive for his team in the Indy Racing League IndyCar series for 2007. However, the team did not ultimately enter the series, and consequently, on March 23, 2007, Duno and her Grand Am Series team, SAMAX Motorsport, sponsored by Citgo (a Venezuelan state-owned oil company), announced that they acquired the equipment to run a 10 race IndyCar series schedule in 2007, including the Indianapolis 500.[5] It was also announced that Duno will no longer run a full schedule in the Grand Am series.

On April 26, 2007, Duno successfully passed her IRL rookie test at Kansas Speedway. When Duno made the field for the Kansas Lottery Indy 300 (also held at Kansas Speedway) on April 29, 2007, it marked the first time in North American open wheel history that three women (Duno, Danica Patrick and Sarah Fisher) ran in the same race. Duno stayed out of trouble after qualifying last in the 21-car field and finished 14th.

On May 6, 2007, Duno successfully completed her rookie test for the Indianapolis 500 race. [6] This 91st running of the "Indy 500" was the first where three women were included in the 33-car field. Duno qualified on May 19, and her speed held through Bump Day, although second slowest. Danica Patrick and Sarah Fisher qualified on May 12 and 13 respectively. Duno was one of two rookie drivers competing in the Race. [7] She crashed out of the race on lap 65 and finished 31st.

[edit] 2008

SAMAX chose not to return to the IndyCar Series in 2008. For 2008, Duno signed with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing with another partial season schedule (announced as 11 races in 2008) also sponsored by Citgo. Upon testing alongside veteran teammate and former Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice, Duno began to show a bit of improvement. Townsend Bell was signed as the driver of the Dreyer & Reinbold #23 during the seven races Milka was not scheduled to drive it in 2008.

Milka Duno at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 12, 2007.

She had a role in the movie adaptation of the 1960s anime cartoon Speed Racer, requiring her to travel to the movie set, preventing her from racing in the Meijer Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway as originally planned.[8] The movie debuted on May 9, 2008, one day before Pole Day qualifying for the 92nd Indianapolis 500; she did qualify for the race the following weekend (due to the second day of qualifications being rained out) and finished 19th in the 2008 Indianapolis 500. She was the highest finishing female, as Danica Patrick and Sarah Fisher placed 22nd and 24th, respectively. Although all three women were involved in accidents during the race, Milka was able to reenter the race after her car was moved to the pits, thus making her the only woman running at the end.

Milka was the first Latina to lead an IndyCar Series race, 5 laps at Chicago, and led more laps in the 2008 IndyCar Championship than any other female IndyCar driver.

[edit] 2009

Duno returned to Dreyer & Reinbold for the 2009 season driving another part time schedule (9 races) after driving in the IRL's pre-season open test at Homestead-Miami Speedway for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing. Darren Manning, Tomas Scheckter, and Roger Yasukawa also drove the #23 car when Duno was not racing.

[edit] Off-Track Activities

Milka is engaged in programs to encourage Hispanic youth to achieve more academically.

[edit] Motorsports Career Results

[edit] American Open-Wheel

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

[edit] IndyCar

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Rank Points
2007 SAMAX United States
HMS
 
United States
STP
 
Japan
MOT
 
United States
KAN
14
United States
INDY
Ret
United States
MIL
 
United States
TXS
11
United States
IOW
Ret
United States
RIR
Ret
United States
WGL
 
United States
NSH
 
United States
MDO
 
United States
MIS
Ret
United States
KTY
 
United States
SNM
 
United States
DET
 
United States
CHI
15
20th 96
2008 Dreyer & Reinbold United States
HMS
Ret
United States
STP
 
Japan
MOT1
 
United States
LBH1
 
United States
KAN
16
United States
INDY
19
United States
MIL
 
United States
TXS
17
United States
IOW
Ret
United States
RIR
 
United States
WGL
Ret
United States
NSH
17
United States
MDO
23
Canada
EDM
 
United States
KTY
Ret
United States
SNM
 
United States
DET
Ret
United States
CHI
14
Australia
SRF2
 
25th 140
2009 Dreyer & Reinbold United States
STP
 
United States
LBH
 
United States
KAN
16
United States
INDY
20
United States
MIL
 
United States
TXS
Ret
United States
IOW
 
United States
RIR
 
United States
WGL
17
Canada
TOR
 
Canada
EDM
 
United States
KTY
20
United States
MDO
Ret
United States
SNM
17
United States
CHI
Ret
Japan
MOT
United States
HMS
17
24th 113
1 Run on same day.
2 Non-points paying, exhibition race.
Years Teams Races Poles Wins Podiums
(Non-win)
Top 10s
(Non-podium)
Indianapolis 500
Wins
Championships
3 2 27 0 0 0 0 0 0

[edit] Indy 500 results

Year Chassis Engine Start Finish Team
2007 Dallara Honda 29 31 SAMAX
2008 Dallara Honda 27 19 Dreyer & Reinbold
2009 Dallara Honda 30 20 Dreyer & Reinbold

[edit] References

[edit] External links