Milka Duno will compete in a
limited schedule of races on the 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series with RAB Racing.
The Caracas, Venezula native
is a multi-time winner in the American Le Mans and Grand American Rolex Sports Car
series and is a three-time Indianapolis 500 qualifier, competing at the Brickyard
from 2007-2009. She claimed an overall win at the Miami Grand Prix in 2004 and her
runner-up finish in the 2007 Rolex 24 at Daytona is still the best for a female
driver in that event.
She has competed on the ARCA
Racing Series for the past three seasons, running the full schedule for Venturini
Motorsports in 2013 en route to seventh in the championship standings. She also
serves as a member of the Formula One broadcast team for the Univision Deportes
Network.
“I’m really very excited and
honored to enter into NASCAR and the Nationwide Series,” said Duno. “It has
always been a goal and dream of mine to compete in NASCAR and I worked very
hard in ARCA to turn this goal into a reality. NASCAR is the most competitive
and popular racing series in the USA, and I’m very proud to enter the series
with RAB Racing. I look forward to competing with them in their No. 29 Toyota
Camry.”
RAB Racing currently fields
the No. 99 Rheem Toyota for driver James Buescher on the Nationwide Series. Veteran
crew chief Chris Rice will oversee Duno’s effort. Veteran Kenny Wallace drove
the team’s No. 29 Toyota to a 19th-place finish Saturday night at
Iowa Speedway.
“We’ve watched Milka develop
in the ARCA Racing Series and feel she is prepared for the next step in her
stock car racing career,” said RAB Racing owner Robby Benton. “I think that
working together with Chris Rice, Milka can find a home in the NASCAR
Nationwide Series. She has a very strong fan base and we hope we can attract
them to follow her in her NASCAR endeavors. Milka is very intelligent and
educated and we look forward to working with her.”
The team has not announced
where Duno will make her Nationwide Series debut.
Lord help us!
ReplyDeleteIf you can't accept women in the sport, maybe you should bury your head in the sand? Baseball and football are the last bastions of male chauvinism, too bad some folks don't believe in giving them a chance. Let her fail or succeed on her own terms not on yours or anyone else's prejudices.
DeleteHey Anonymous - she's already failed on her own terms.
DeleteMuch like Danica, Milka's looks have opened doors for her and I'm ok with that. However, at age 42 - she's 10 years older than Danica is right now - she's a little late to the dance. None the less, we should reserve judgement and give her a chance to show her stuff on the track.
ReplyDeleteAsk the folks in Indy Car about Milka, she was asked to leave because she presented a danger to the field. The only reason she has gotten the rides she has is because she was financially backed by the Venezuelan government via CITGO OIL.
ReplyDeleteAnd you can bet she bought her way into this ride as well
And as far as her ARCA drives, my mom would look good in top equipment in that series.
She will get eaten alive in NASCAR, she's a Hack Driver not a race driver
So she pays the Venezuelan government lots of money to give her lots of money to go racing? Does that make sense to you, at all? No.
DeleteWhat Anon #1 meant was she bought her way into the ride using the money given to her by CITGO.
DeleteThat isn't necessarily bad, as many other drivers have done the same (such as Menard). However, the main problem is she was basically ran out of Indy due to her being a serious risk to other drivers.
She cannot maintain speed, and when approached her lines are erratic at best. I certainly hope she does not get a license for draft tracks, as her behavior in packs will most likely be scary.
My personal concerns have absolutely nothing to do with her sex, her heritage, or the way she secured a ride. My concern is she will be a poor showing for the sport, and if anything make it much more difficult for attractive females to be taken seriously based on their worthy skills.
Hopefully we are proven wrong and she finds some success.
She has money same as Danica. Danica would not be in sprint cup with out go daddys 20 million a yr. she bought her ride to.
Deletedanica bought her ride with lots money from godaddy without them she would not be in nascar.
Delete