Driving an open-wheel Indy car for only the second time, Milka Duno earned her IndyCar series rookie license Thursday – three days before she will make her series debut at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City.
The 34-year-old Venezuelan, who is moving to Indy cars from sports-car racing, becomes the third woman in the IndyCar series, after Sarah Fisher and Danica Patrick.
All three are in the field for Sunday’s Kansas Lottery Indy 300, marking the first time three women are expected to compete in one race in a top-level circuit.
“Out there, we’re all drivers,” Duno said.
Duno had hoped to arrive in the Kansas City area Tuesday and take her rookie test Wednesday, but was prevented from doing either by heavy rain.
On Tuesday, her flight from Miami was grounded in Louisiana for nine hours.
“If I flew to Australia, it would take me less time than it took for me to get from Miami to Kansas,” she said.
Windy and unseasonably cool conditions Thursday morning kept her from taking the track until after 11:30 a.m., when the temperature rose past 50 degrees. She finished testing shortly before 5 p.m., after completing 210 laps on the 1.5-mile tri-oval, and learned she had passed several minutes later.
“It’s almost like passing a college exam,” Samax Motorsports owner Peter Barron said. “It’s good to get this step out of the way.”
Duno said she plans to compete in 10 of the series’ 17 races this year, concentrating on ovals. She plans to enter the Indianapolis 500 next month and is expected to run a full schedule in 2008.
Despite her limited experience, Duno said she would do more than just try to finish Sunday’s race.
“I’m going to do my best,” Duno said. “I’m very competitive.
“But at the same time, I’m going to try to learn everything, how to drive with all the guys together.”
NASCAR: Jeff Burton’s No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet will bear the familiar Cingular markings for at least two more weeks.
There was no decision on AT&T’s request for an injunction to have its logos placed on Burton’s car. Instead, U.S. District Court Judge Marvin H. Schoob listened to almost four hours of arguments from NASCAR, AT&T and Nextel and then set May 7 as the deadline for briefs to be submitted in the case.
At the preliminary injunction hearing, NASCAR attorneys defended the decision to prevent Cingular – the primary sponsor of the No. 31 car – from changing its branding on the car to the AT&T blue globe.
Cingular merged with AT&T in December, and AT&T is phasing out the Cingular brand.
Sprint Nextel Corp. sponsors NASCAR’s premier series, the Nextel Cup, and has exclusive rights as the telecommunications company for the series.
