Milka Duno signed with Dale Coyne Racing for the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season - a race seat that could have gone to Graham Rahal (Photo: St. Petersburg Times)

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There is a time and place for everything.

There is a time to vent one's frustrations, and there is a time to keep those frustrations to oneself.

There is a time for righteous outrage, and there is a time for sober objectivity.

Today, I'm advocating the latter option in both situations. Someone needs to, especially today, because advocates of the former in two separate instances are making complete fools of themselves - and it really should stop.

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A couple of weeks ago, Danica Patrick cast her net on the Twitter grounds trying to reel in some ideas for a new nickname.

Apparently, racing's #1 diva felt that she needed a moniker that her crew could call her that was amusing without being insulting. "DP" was too simple, and I'm pretty sure that her other nicknames - the ones she accumulated involuntarily from her IndyCar career - were not what she had in mind.

It then occurred to me that some of the newer drivers in IndyCar probably feel the same way. New to the paddock, they might benefit from having a nickname like some of the more established drivers (i.e., Briscoe Inferno, The Iceman, Shoe Boy, etc.).

Well, Pop Off Valve is only a couple of months old so it's not like we're paddock fixtures yet either - but since we want to be as helpful as possible to the folks we cover, here are a few of our suggestions for you drivers out there.

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Is Ryan Briscoe less compelling because he's not American?

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Paul Tracy never has been at a loss for words.

I'm not sure he always thinks about what those words are, but that doesn't stop him from sharing them with everyone.

The "Thrill from West Hill" started a Twitter ruckus today by posting this to his feed:

4 drivers from this continent at the first test . i think there is 3 wins for all of them put together . as guys like rahal , rice and me

get to stay home and watch . if thats what you fans want ... enjoy

Now, I appreciate Paul's passion. I appreciate his outspokenness. But he's really criticizing the wrong people if he's laying this at the feet of the fans.

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What happens to racing when the cars don’t matter anymore?

At one point in our history, races like the Indianapolis 500 made stars out of its drivers for the sole reason that they drove the cars that raced at the Brickyard. The same thing happened in NASCAR - the big names were the ones who “raced on the beach” in cars that people could put in their own driveways.

But as society’s focus gradually shifted from the automobile to celebrity as a vehicle for escapism, racing series discovered that they could shift the onus of selling their sport onto the people who drove the cars rather than the cars themselves. Racing technology began a slow but inexorable drift toward the periphery.

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One of the toughest jobs that blowhards and word butchers like me have is to admit we are wrong about something. Which is why most writers rarely do it outside of the tiny, tiny "Errata" columns hidden at the back of newspapers (you remember what those are, right?)

But, hang it all, I took ethics classes when I was studying journalism so I have to issue a mea culpa.

Six days ago, I wrote this:

...The time for being frightened of brave new worlds is over. The trench-digging philosophy didn't work in World War I and it's not going to work in IndyCar. To move forward, one must be ready to take steps - sometimes big ones - over uncharted ground...

Would it be so bad for the 2012 IndyCar to represent a revolution, even if it shakes the very core of what an IndyCar looks like? If ever there was a racing series in need of a shakeup, IndyCar is it. It's been far too long since we have had to face the unknown in the sport in any other capacity besides finances and car counts.

Bold words. And, unfortunately, words I had no problem at all forgetting yesterday when the DeltaWing concept IndyCar was unveiled at the Chicago Auto Show.

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Danica Patrick's #7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet slides through the tri-oval at Daytona International Speedway in the ARCA Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 (Photo: ARCARacing.com)

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The attention given two similar on-track incidents during Saturday's ARCA race told the whole story about Danica Patrick's stock car debut.

One incident involved Patrick herself. The other involved Joey Coulter, an ARCA regular. Both drivers were victims of side impacts that sent them through the Daytona infield grass. Both drivers escaped with very little to no damage to their race cars.

One driver's incident was given multiple replays and breathless fawning praise from the SPEED announcers. The other was given a perfunctory second look and comments about being "lucky."

I don't really have to connect the dots for you, do I?

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The concepts for the 2012 IndyCar chassis have ranged from the evolutionary to the revolutionary.

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...And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're going through

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Turn and face the strange ch-ch-changes...

David Bowie, "Changes"

Have you ever worked at a company that has gotten bought out by or has merged with a new parent business? If you have, then you know the feeling of panic and unrest that settles in when the new overlords show up with ingratiating smiles, chintzy corporate gifts with your new logo, and a medium-sized novel filled with new rules and office procedures that you must accept on pain of termination.

Some of that feeling has trickled into the IndyCar fan community with the news that the IndyCar folks are planning on a new chassis for 2012.

Why? Because they've heard some things about the so-called Delta Wing, which will be unveiled next week at the Chicago Auto Show. They've seen concept images from Dallara Automobili, the company that builds the current chassis. And some of the concepts are so revolutionary that many long-time IndyCar fans can't seem to wrap their minds around them.

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Tony Johns (L) and Earl Ma (R) at Infineon Raceway in 2003. (Photo: Tony Johns/Thunderbird Creative Media)

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At the end of 2007, I made a decision that, at the time, I thought was for the best: I retired from writing about racing.

I was burned out. I had spent 10 years covering NASCAR, Formula 1 and IndyCar racing, and I wasn't enjoying it anymore. I was disillusioned by politics, tired of swimming upstream against more established professionals in the business, and I felt like I was out of original ideas. It was time to do something else, I thought.

But mostly, the catalyst behind my retirement was Earl's death.

Earl Ma was my friend and writing partner for almost all of the decade I spent in the racing media. He died of complications from cancer soon after the 2007 Indianapolis 500. And when he went, so did much of my enthusiasm for the hobby we both shared.

But here I am, back at the grind once again... and again, it's also because of Earl.

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