Milka Duno’s Need For Speed

Milka_Dunov3

Would you like to see more women race car drivers?

My opinion is that once a driver suits up, puts on a helmet, gets in the racecar and onto the track there is no such thing as female and male racecar drivers’ everyone’s just a racecar driver. It doesn’t matter to me if the driver in the racecar in front of me is male or female.

I view everyone as a competitor and will do everything I can to beat them! It would be wonderful to see more women racecar drivers, but the bigger issue is to see more women striving to reach their goals, whatever they may be. I challenge any and all women to pursue their passion and their goals, and as long as they are doing that I don’t care if it’s as a stay-at-home mother, a firefighter or a racecar driver.

Have the male drivers welcomed you as an equal?

In general, I believe they have. The best evidence I have is very big companies that are supporting me in my career and believe in me. Racing at this level is quite involved and very expensive. The fact that these companies have honored me with their support is very humbling. I am also very proud of all my racing achievements, particularly this season. I have an incredible team, Howard-Boss Motorsports, and an extremely talented co-driver in Andy Wallace.

Are you surprised by your racing success?

I wouldn’t necessarily say surprised, because a tremendous is that they offer absolutely no special treatment or consideration if someone is a female driver. When we’re on the track racing, the biggest compliment I can get from them is that I am just another competitor. That’s when I know they consider me an equal.

What do you hope to achieve as an auto racer?

I hope to continue learning and challenging myself and advancing. It would be incredible to one-day race in the Indy 500 or in Formula 1. Those are goals of mine, but as long as I continue to grow and learn I’ll be happy!

Which accomplishment(s) are you most proud of and why?

The things I am most proud of are the sponsorship/endorsement support of Pontiac, CITGO, PDVSA, CANTV, and MRW. This amount of dedication and hard work go into racing success. But no matter how hard you work, you always need a little bit of luck.

Do you miss naval engineering?

I enjoyed every minute while pursuing my education and training, and it gave me an

excellent platform to launch into racing. So much of racing now involves engineering. The studying habits and discipline I had to develop to become an engineer prepared me well for the demands of a racing career, and while I don’t necessarily miss naval engineering, I do miss all the people I went to school with and worked with, as there was a tremendous sense of camaraderie and esprit de corps. But now I have the same with my racing team and co-driver!

What do you see yourself doing once your racing career ends?

One day I would like to start a family and have children. Perhaps if I were to continue to be involved in racing I could continue as a race engineer, or maybe even a driving coach!

 

Wikipedia postscript below:

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 and highest placing Venezuelan driver, eclipsing Ernesto Soto’s 5th place finish in 1982.[6> 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 appearances, ten top five finishes and eighteen top ten finishes.

 2013 Most recently In her first full season in the ARCA Racing Series, Duno finished the 2013 season seventh in driver championship standings, becoming the second highest finishing female driver in ARCA’s 61-year history. Read more at Wikipedia

 

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