CITGO RACING'S MILKA DUNO 'PITCHES' FOR THE FLORIDA MARLINS

September 17, 2004 - CITGO Racing's Milka Duno took a break from her preparation for this weekend's Miami 250 at Homestead-Miami Speedway to throw out the "ceremonial" first pitch for the start of the 2003 World Series Champion Florida Marlins game against the Montreal Expos Thursday night, September 16.

Milka was given the honor to throw out the ceremonial first pitch and to receive special pitching and batting instructions from two of her fellow Venezuelans on the championship team - Miguel Cabrera and Alex Gonzalez. Milka also received some one-on-one advice from the Marlins' celebrated manager Jack McKeon.

"You can't imagine how excited I was to meet Miguel and Alex - and for the honor of throwing out the ceremonial first pitch for the 2003 World Champions," said Duno. "I also had the chance to spend some time with Jack in the dugout and get his very special advice on how to throw the ball."

"Miguel and Alex presented me with two beautiful bats with their autographs that I will always treasure. I was also able to keep the ball that I pitched! Jack had told me that if I threw a good pitch it would bring them luck. I guess I must have done just that because they beat the Expos 4 to 3!" added Milka.

Milka and her CITGO Racing Team returned to Homestead-Miami Speedway this week to defend their title - having won at the first visit to the South Florida circuit earlier this year. CITGO Racing's star drivers - Milka and her teammate Andy Wallace - won the Grand Prix of Miami on February 28, 2004 and return to defend their title at the Miami 250 this Sunday, September 19, 2004.

With the Grand Prix of Miami win, Milka became the 1st woman in history to win overall a major sports car race in North America. Milka is currently the only woman racing in the highest class of the Rolex Sports Car Series and the 1st woman in history to drive the fastest car in the series - the Daytona Prototype.

The Miami 250 is the 9th race of the 2004 Rolex Sports Car Series Championship's 12-race schedule. Milka and Andy will drive the #2 CITGO Pontiac Crawford Daytona Prototype on the circuit's 2.3-mile, 11-turn road racing configuration. The Miami 250 will be a 250-mile/109-lap/2.75-hour time limit event.

The SPEED Channel will provide live flag-to-flag coverage of the Miami 250 beginning at 11:00am EST on Sunday, September 19.

CITGO, based in Tulsa, Okla., is a refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals, refined waxes, asphalt 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. For more information on CITGO visit www.citgo.com.

Additional information on drivers Milka Duno and Andy Wallace is available at www.milkaduno.com and www.andywallace.com, respectively. For more information on the Grand American Sports Car Series please visit www.grandamerican.com.

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