MILKA DUNO WINS 2009 AMERICAN LATINO AWARD  
Duno Earns Most Votes in Favorite Alternative Athlete Category
 
LOS ANGELES, CA (October 5, 2009) - IndyCar driver Milka Duno, the first Hispanic woman to compete in the Indy 500 and the IndyCar Series, has won the 2009 American Latino Award in the "Favorite Alternative Athlete" Category in the 3rd annual American Latino TV Awards.
 
The American Latino TV Awards serves to recognize excellence and achievement in the
American Latino community and is a tribute to the individuals, organizations and projects that have been featured in their seven-season library of multi-award winning and groundbreaking television shows.
 
The nominees were selected by the producers of American Latino TV – but the winners were decided by online fan voting. Videos of the nominees and winners in each category are available at http://www.americanlatino.tv/awards/.

Duno, now in her third consecutive IndyCar Series season, is the first and only Hispanic female driver in the IndyCar Series. In the 2008 IndyCar Series season finale at Chicagoland Speedway Duno became the first Latina in history to lead an IndyCar race. She also led the most race laps of any female driver in the 2008 season – as well as being the only female driver to finish at the 2008 Indy 500.

Off the track, Duno is a certified Naval Engineer who holds four master’s degrees, earning the last three simultaneously.  Duno is also working through her “Milka Way” program to inspire youth to “Aim for the Stars” and achieve academic excellence. Duno appeared in the May 2008 Warner Bros. movie, “Speed Racer”. 

Duno competes in the IndyCar Series with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in the #23 CITGO-sponsored car.

CITGO, based in Houston, TX, is a refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products.  The company is owned by PDV America, Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., the national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

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