Milka Duno ~ Excited To Be In Indy Cars

May 27, 2007

by Ron Felix

Mikla Duno, not a name that rolls off of your tongue. Duno, pronounced (do know), is from Venezuela.

The 35 year-old former model has one of the most difficult jobs in auto racing. She will start at the rear of the field on Sunday in the Indianapolis 500, the 91st running of the event and what she lacks most is experience. Duno didn't sit in a racecar until ten years ago, late in life by today's standards.

And to add to that, she has only been a competitor in one other IndyCar race. That came at the Kansas City IndyCar race several weeks ago. She finished six laps down to the leader in that event.

In her first attempt at running at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, she crashed in a practice session and with only one car, it took a long time to repair the damage. But repair it they did and eventually she got the car up to speed -- enough to make the field in the Indy 500.

"I was feeling like a rookie last Friday (May 11 practice crash)," Duno said, also referring to the other rookie in the field, Phil Geibler. "A rookie mistake, but I learned from that. Even the greatest drivers, like Helio Castroneves, somebody said his first time here he had a contact, also, no? It can happen to everyone. I am a rookie. I'm learning; I made a mistake. I don't want to remember it, but it was a mistake. I think it's very important that people are going to remember these two rookies, that we had the same incidents, but we had the capacity to recover, as a team and as a driver. My guys and his guys did a fantastic job getting the car ready, and with so much tension, both of us qualified.

Duno is one of three women in the race, a record for the speedway.

In her only race at Kansas City, Duno finished six laps behind winner Dan Wheldon of Britain and she crashed during practice at the Brickyard.

It's still a bit of a struggle for Duno to speak proper English, but she is trying -- she has so much information coming in that it's difficult to process it all.

"I have received so much advice, but everyone talk about the same," said Duno. "We're starting in the back, we have all the air from the others. We have to be so careful for the first few laps until the moment that everyone starts to separate. It's going to be a very hard moment. I'm happy to be a part of the grid."

Duno is hoping for some alone time so she can mentally prepare for the biggest race in the world.

"It's difficult because we need time for concentration -- because we need time to focus to get ready to be in the car," Duno explained. "I need at least 15 minutes, 10 minutes, to go away and concentrate on my process for going inside the car. I try to handle that because it's bigger here."

Over the years there have been many a competitor that couldn't qualify for the Indy 500, no matter her result in the race, she is a winner already.