It's conquering a challenge that thrills me, said Milka Duno

Milka Duno, is a professional race car driver and naval engineer. Her many accomplishments include being the first female to win a major sports car race in North America, and earning four engineering-related masters degrees, three simultaneously.



She wrote to us in her own words, “When I was a small child in Caracas, Venezuela, my teacher asked us to draw her a picture. I drew a horse. My teacher asked why I chose something so hard to draw. I told her that I didn't like to do simple things - only difficult things.



From an early age my internal compass has pointed me toward challenges. Over the years, I've worked hard to excel as a student, a naval engineer and now, a racecar driver.



When I became a professional driver, people wondered if I was addicted to speed. It's true that speed can be addicting. Grand Am endurance sports car racing heightens all your senses to their utmost. But even more addicting for me is the challenge. It's conquering a challenge that thrills me.



Challenges come in all shapes and sizes. There are the challenges we seek and the challenges that seek us, uninvited. One such challenge is muscular dystrophy.



I became acquainted with muscular dystrophy and other neuromuscular diseases when CITGO became my primary racing sponsor. For 20 years, CITGO also has sponsored a different kind of endurance racing team, the Muscular Dystrophy Association. MDA is racing to find cures for muscle-wasting diseases that affect children and adults.



Muscular dystrophy causes progressive muscle weakness and paralysis, not only of the limbs, but sometimes of the face, speaking muscles, breathing muscles and heart. These diseases can destroy bodies slowly over many decades, or quickly end a life in a few months or years.