As SPORTSbyBROOKS.com points out, apparently Sports Illustrated wasn’t a big fan of Danica Patrick’s back tattoo, because the mag decided to airbrush it out of a recent photo shoot.

It seems that in the most recent issue of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED’s swimsuit issue, the folks at SI decided to give part-time race care driver and full-time media darling Danica Patrick the Allen Iverson treatment. The folks over at GUNAXIN were kind enough to point out that the tattoo you can see on the small of her back in the photo above, from Danica’s first SI shoot, has magically disappeared.

The question is why SPORTS ILLUSTRATED feels the need to edit the tattoo out all of a sudden, as it’s not like it’s grossly oversized or anything offensive. It’s just an American flag morphing into a checkered flag. Whatever the case is, I’m sure you guys will enjoy investigating.

Well, aren’t we all high and mighty after outing A-Rod for steroids?