Milka Duno - The Latin Fury!

Milka Duno

Mila Duno was born on April 22, 1972 in Caracas, Venezuela.  Unlike many women in the sport, she started racing not at an early age but when she was 24.   You are now asking yourself, what got her into racing and what was she doing before racing?  Part of the answer is she was a model and a Naval engineer with four master's degrees.  This was the story of Mila until 1996 when she was invited to take part in a Porsche Driving Clinic in Venezuela. The mechanics and precision of the sport captured her full attention and coupled with her passion for challenge and competition she knew she was meant to be a race car driver.

Duno's career began in 1996 in Venezuela when she raced in the Venezuelan GT Championship, she finished second.  In 1998 she raced in the Venezuelan Porsche Supercup Championship and placed a respectable fourth.  In 1999, needing more racing education, she moved to the United States of America and attended advanced racing schools.  The start of the new millennium was a big year for Duno, she competed in the Barber Dodge Pro Series, became the first woman (and still the only) to win a Ferrari Challenge race in the USA, won The Panoz GT series - her first Series Championship and was named "Venezuelan Auto Racing Driver of the Year".  

2000 Dodge Viper GTS at Le Mans

Even after all her racing in 2000, the year was not over and she made her American Le Mans Series Debut in a Dodge Viper GTS where she finished third in her class. This put her in the history books as the first women to finish on the podium in the GTS class in American Lemans Series. She then made her debut at the 24 hours of Daytona in 2001 and took time to compete in the World Series by Nissan open-wheel series in Europe (also raced in 2003).  She became the first woman to score points in this series and was also crowned Vice-Champion Driver in the LMP (Le Mans Prototype) 675 Class of the American Le Mans Series.  To be crowned such an achievement, she scored four wins (impressive for any driver), which included her win at the prestigious Petit Le Mans (making her the first woman to score a class win in this major competition). She also managed to win another LMP 675 class win at the Petit Le Mans in 2004 (the first woman with two class wins at this event). Another notable achievement for Duno was she was the first woman to drive the fastest cars in the American Le Mans series -- the LMP 900.

Howard-Boss Daytona Prototype 2004

In 2004, Milka began her Rolex Grand-Am series career.  She drove for the Howard-Boss Motorsports team and was provided a Daytona Prototype race car.  Her stay with Howard-Boss did not last overly long, she joined the SAMAX motorsport team in 2006. In 2007, raced in the 24 hours of Daytona again and placed second in the race.  This made her the female with the highest finishing in the history of the famous race and made her the highest placing Venezuelan driver as well.  In the Rolex series Duno achieved three overall wins, and in typical Milka Duno style she made history again.  She won twice at the Homestead-Miami Speedway and once at Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant in Quebec. Her win at Miami put her into the racing history books again as the first woman to win overall a major international sports car race in North America. She ended her time in the Rolex Series with three overall wins, earning seven podium spots , ten top five finishes and eighteen top ten finishes.

Milka Duno racing in the IRL

After her career in the Rolex Grand-Am series, she began racing in the Indy Racing League (IRL)  in 2007.  She raced in the IRL from 2007 - 2010 and achieved another first - the first Latin woman to qualify and race in the Indianapolis 500.  During the later part of her Indy career Duno faced many challenges and upsets, so she began racing in the ARCA Racing Series for the 2010 season.  Milka continues to drive in the ARCA series and continues to be a force to be reckoned with behind the wheel. 

Milka Duno has achieved a lot of firsts in her career, right from the beginning.  She has overcome the stereotypes of women and the belief they cannot be a dominant force in professional racing.  She is another shining example in which gender has no role in a skill of a driver nor their determination to be great. With Milka Duno as an example, women should have no fear in competing an a "male dominated" sport, there is no reason for them not to compete knowing all to well they are good as or better then the male drivers.