Milka, Marty and Alex Among Kansas Entries
Written by George Katinger · April 24, 2007
Venezuelan Star Makes Her IndyCar Debut on Saturday
by Allan Brewer
allan@fastmachines.com
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Milka Duno. Photo: ShawnPayneIRL
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Venezuela’s Milka Duno joins Danica Patrick and Sarah Fisher as part of the first three-woman entry-list to an IndyCar event in history. After a month of private testing, Milka looks to qualify for Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 to get her first taste of oval competition at 200 mph-plus speeds.
Saturday’s (April 29th) IndyCar Series Kansas Lottery Indy 300 not only gives fans a glimpse of what may be in store for the month of May at Indianapolis, it also debuts a new name and two more familiar ones for their Indy Racing League return.
The two-hundred lap race at eight-year old Kansas Speedway will see Venezuelan female driver Milka Duno attempt to qualify and drive in her first IndyCar event after a career primarily in road racing in the sports car series.
Joining Milka as “relative newcomers” are perennially cheerful Canadian Marty Roth returning in anticipation of a run at the Indy 500; and thirty-six year old Alex Barron at the wheel of the Greg Beck/CURB Agajanian machine (both making their first starts since the 2007 season-opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway in March).
Duno joins the League as its third female competitor. Sarah Fisher of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and Andretti/Green Racing’s Danica Patrick make their usual appearances at the 1.5 mile 15-degree banked tri-oval on the west side of Kansas City as well.
The event will mark the first time in history that three women drivers have raced together in a major open-wheel sporting event.
Duno hopes to run a ten-race season which includes the 91st running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing on Memorial Day in Indianapolis. The race at Kansas will be her first taste of competition in the IndyCar series where speeds regularly top two hundred miles per hour.
“With ten races we’ll be able to learn the different race tracks this year,” commented the thirty-four year old beauty, who is by education and training a Naval Engineer with four master’s degrees - in Organizational Development, Naval Architecture, Maritime Business and Marine Biology.
The race will be Alex Barron’s first look at Kansas Speedway since 2005 when he was competing the IndyCar circuit with Red Bull/Cheever Racing.
“I think the main thing is get all the basics done at the track and make sure everything is working well and get a good handle on the car setup,” he said prior to his only previous race this year at Homestead.
“Being just a two-day event, hopefully before the race we can make some fine adjustments to make the car really good in traffic. The biggest goal is get the basics down, work on our pit stops and see where we’re at. Hopefully, we can run enough laps to figure some things out quickly.”
Barron’s return comes at the wheel of a team managed by IndyCar veteran Greg Beck, who last year found himself yearning for a return to open-wheel while competing in stock cars.
“My heart’s in Indy car racing,” said Beck. “That’s our heritage and what we want to be doing. We’re excited to be back in the IndyCar Series. We’re trying to build a program and run as many races this year as we can.”
Finally, Marty Roth needs no introduction as he’s been an irregular regular in the Indy Racing League for many years.
His previous start at Homestead yielded a fifteenth place finish for his team.
The 2007 IndyCar Series season continues with the Kansas Lottery Indy 300 at 4:30 PM (EDT) on April 29th. The race will be telecast live by ESPN2 and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network. A Spanish-language telecast of the race will be carried by ESPN Deportes. The IMS Radio Network broadcast also is carried on XM Satellite Radio and www.indycar.com. The sixth season of Indy Pro Series competition continues with the Freedom 100 on May 25th at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The race will be telecast as part of ESPN2’s coverage of Carb Day at 4 PM on May 25th.
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Allan, have to ask you where you fall on the “Milka No No” argument…that she’s far to experienced to ride in an IRL 220mph rocket? Personally I am petrified for her and everyone else on the track. She should be in the Pro Series for a year before this move. But business is business.