HOW HOT IS MILKA DUNO?
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Meet Miss Speed. She is a Venezuelan beauty with driving skills that are eclipsed perhaps only by her beauty and intelligence (she has two masters degrees in naval engineering). Make no mistake about it, male or female, Milka Duno will leave you in the dust! She’s not just a fast female racecar driver in the world, she’s one of the fastest drivers in the world, period. Milka’s emphasis on education and her determination to be the best in any field she pursues is why we are proud to call her one of our OYE Trailblazers.

How do men feel about getting beaten by a woman?
I think I’ve earned the respect of the men in this sport. They see me now as another driver. It makes no difference if I am a man or a woman. The important thing is the capacity, the ability you have to drive the car and perform at their level.

So you’ve never had any bad experiences or heard sexist comments?
No. I accepted from the beginning that I had to play with the same rules as everyone else. It’s no different. It’s a man’s sport, but it doesn’t mean that a woman can’t do it.

How did you get started in car racing?
I started five years ago. A car club from Venezuela invited me to a driving clinic. From that moment I felt like I was born for it. I started racing. The first activity that I had was with an amateur club. I continued doing races with the club and I was finishing on the podium all the time. After that I decided to drive a racecar. I was working at it more and more. I came to the United States for racing school and to my surprise two weeks later they called me to be a formula driver.

So before you joined the car club you didn’t have any experience racing cars.
Exactly. When I was racing with the car club I was winning, but I was doing it with my instincts. I didn’t have any schooling, no instruction on driving fast. But it was something that was in me. And after that I went to driving school and learned more and more.

You’ve accomplished a lot in the time you’ve been racing.
I’ve improved a lot. I am driving now at the highest levels. But I think a lot of the work that I have behind me helped me a lot. Like my degrees in engineering helped me a lot in this sport. You need many things to be successful in racing.

So you think it was your instincts that enabled you to become so good so fast?
You need to have some characteristics and talents in you to drive a racecar. You must be very cool. So there are special characteristics that a driver needs to have. You must be calm and not [get] nervous.
You need to develop your ability also by training. My former education in engineering helped me also, because I can understand everything faster–what happens in the car. I can also talk with the engineer and tell him everything that’s happening. So there are many things that have helped me get to the highest levels.

What’s the hardest thing about your profession?
I think everything. Everything was difficult for me because it’s a difficult sport. You need training. You need physical conditioning, mental conditioning. You need a special diet. You need hard physical training. You need a good car, a good team, and good engineers. So everything is hard. And I am playing in a man’s world, which makes it harder. Because you need to work harder to show them that you can do as well as them.

But it was something that I decided, and I said, okay, I’ll work in this direction. This is the thing that I want. And nobody’s stopping me. Everything is difficult, but not impossible.

How did your family feel about you pursuing racecar driving?
My family in the beginning didn’t support me. They said I was crazy. They said, “After studying so much, now you want to get into racecar driving?” I’m a naval engineer and I have my master’s degree. And I earned a scholarship to study in Spain and earned another master’s. I was in two universities at the same time. I really studied a lot, because I was very focused and wanted to be a really good engineer. I was learning everything to prepare for my career as a naval engineer.

Then when I came back to Venezuela and started driving with my amateur club, I told my father that I wanted to drive racecars. He laughed and said, “Are you crazy? After studying so much!” He wasn’t very happy. But now my family supports me. They are my biggest fans.

Do you find that people have any stereotypes about you before they meet you because you’re a female and attractive?
At first when people meet me, they don’t believe I am a racecar driver. I think this is normal, because it’s a man’s sport and they don’t expect a woman to drive a racecar. So I think it’s normal that in the beginning people don’t believe that I drive a racecar. But the good thing is they get a big surprise when they find out I really am a racecar driver, when they see how fast I can drive and that I can win a race.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a female in a male-dominated sport?
I think it’s more about the personality that I need to have. It’s not about being a man or woman. I think it’s equal. The most important thing is how strong you are and the determination you need to have to make everything happen.

What other goals do you want to achieve as a racecar driver?
I’m working hard. I think the only thing I can do is try hard to do my best. The opportunity will come when you are successful. I think that if I continue to do well I will have the opportunity in the future, but it depends on how hard I work now.

What do you feel more pride in, being one of the few female drivers or being one of the few Hispanic drivers?
I’m just happy to be a racecar driver. I feel proud of everything that I am doing and everything that I have done. The thing that I am most proud of is my studies, my education. I think it’s one of the important things that people should always try to achieve, as well as motivate young people to achieve, to tell them that they must go to school. You can do a sport and you can pursue an education at the same time. But the sport is only temporary. Your education is forever.

I worked so hard when I was in the university because in everything I do, I want to be successful. So I try. I push hard to be one of the best in everything that I do. When I was in the university, I was number one. In high school, I was number one. And now in racing, I try to be one of the best.

Milka Duno, Speed Racerette8.11024

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