Milka Duno

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Milka Duno
Duno at Barber Motorsports Park in 2006
Nationality	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	20
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 1 Biography 1.1 Early life & career 1.2 Indy Racing League 1.2.1 2007 1.2.2 2008 2 Feud with Ashley Judd and Danica Patrick 3 Motorsports Career Results 3.1 American Open-Wheel 3.1.1 IndyCar 3.2 Indy 500 results 4 References 5 External links

[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.

Later in 2000, Duno made her American Le Mans Series debut. 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.

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.

[edit] Indy Racing League

[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.

On August 5, 2007, prior to the Firestone Indy 400, SAMAX Motorsport officials met with Indy Racing League officials, including Chief Operating Officer Brian Barnhart, to discuss Duno's progress; media and fans speculated that Duno's IRL career could soon be over. ^[8] Duno did race in the event, but retired on lap 44 due to fuel pump failure.

After the Michigan race, it was announced that she was on probation. SAMAX stated that she was one of several drivers on probation prior to that race and that her Michigan performance did not have any bearing on that probation.^[9] She did return for the season finale at Chicagoland Speedway and finished 15th without incident, which proved to be only her 7th event of the season instead of the earlier announced 10 races.

[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.

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.^[10] 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.

[edit] Feud with Ashley Judd and Danica Patrick

Duno has been openly criticized by actress Ashley Judd, the wife of driver Dario Franchitti, for being slow and dangerous on the track. After the final race of the 2007 season, Judd stated to the assembled news media that, "I know this is not very sportsmanlike, but they've got to get the 23 car (Duno) off the track. It's very dangerous. I'm tired of holding my tongue. She shouldn't be out there. When a car is 10 miles (an hour) off the pace, it's not appropriate to be racing. People's lives are at stake."^[11]

During practice for an IRL race held at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on the weekend of July 18-20th, 2008 Danica Patrick echoed Judd's concerns and confronted Duno in the pits after Duno had cut her off during a practice session. Patrick walked into Duno's pit, and Duno responded by twice throwing a towel in Danica's face and ordering her to leave the pits. Patrick responded by saying "it's not my fault you are slow." The heated exchange was captured on film and was shown widely on ESPN and various news websites that evening.^[12]

[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	HMS	STP	MOT	KAN 14	INDY Ret	MIL DNP	TXS 11	IOW Ret	RIR Ret	WGL DNP	NSH Wth	MDO DNP	MIS Ret	KTY DNP	SNM DNP	DET DNP	CHI 15			20th	96
2008	Dreyer & Reinbold	HMS Ret	STP DNP	MOT1 DNP	LBH1 DNP	KAN 16	INDY 19	MIL DNP	TXS 17	IOW Ret	RIR	WGL Ret	NSH 17	MDO 23	EDM	KTY Ret	SNM DNP	DET Ret	CHI 14	SRF2	25th	140
2009	Dreyer & Reinbold	STP	LBH	KAN 16	INDY 20	MIL	TXS Ret	IOW	RIR	WGL 17	TOR	EDM	KTY	MDO	SNM	CHI	MOT	HMS			23rd*	51*

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	22	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

• Milka Duno how to be successful
• Official announcement of Duno racing in the Indy Racing League and at the Indianapolis 500
• Duno's future in IRL may be short-lived

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