Unfair advantage

SI.com reported Robby Gordon accused Danica Patrick of having an unfair advantage in the Indianapolis 500 and said Saturday he will not compete in the race again unless the field is equalized. Gordon, a former open-wheel driver now in NASCAR, contends that Patrick is at an advantage over the rest of the competitors because she only weighs 100 pounds. Because all the cars weigh the same, Patrick's is lighter on the race track.

"The lighter the car, the faster it goes," Gordon said. "Do the math. Put her in the car at her weight, then put me or Tony Stewart in the car at 200 pounds and our car is at least 100 pounds heavier. "I won't race against her until the IRL does something to take that advantage away."

Go on a diet, Gordo. You may have greater upper body strength than she does. Should they tie one hand behind you?

The Indy Racing League does not consider the weight of the driver in its race specifications. The car has to weigh at least 1,525 pounds before the fuel and driver are added, and teams in Indy have estimated that Patrick will gain close to 1 mph in speed because of her small stature.

Kevin Aylward: blogged Gordon has in past years pulled a highly unusual double shift of racing in the Indy 500 and the NASCAR Coca Cola 600 on the same day, but is faring so poorly this year as owner of his own racing team he's had to focus solely on the days NASCAR race.

For a guy who led NASCAR in crashes last year, including a retaliatory crash which accidentally eliminated two contenders for the Nextel Cup from qualifying, weight seems to be the least of his concerns. Maturity is where Gordon is carrying less of a load than his competition. His rep is so bad some of his sponsors have clauses in their agreements to protect the companies from being embarrassed by Gordon.

James Joyner blogged Gordon is absolutely right. In the spirit of unity, this I vow: I will not compete in the NBA finals until the league does something about the fact that Shaquille Oneal is a foot taller than I am and outweighs me by 140 pounds, giving him an unfair advantage in the paint. Similarly, I will not report to training camp with the Dallas Cowboys until they look into the fact that the players are all stronger and faster than I am.

Kevin Drum blogged Goodness! Those girls are practically cheating by being smaller than men, aren't they? It just breaks your heart. Still, maybe we should get into the spirit of the thing. Perhaps NASCAR's men should be forced to drive with artificially stiffer steering wheels to make up for their naturally greater upper body strength. Maybe male tennis players should play against women but be required to use two-pound rackets. Maybe Tiger Woods should be forced to use 3 ounce golf balls. It's amazing, isn't it? Men have dozens of advantages against women in practically every sport on the planet, and earn mountains of money because of it. But find one minor advantage for women in one single sport and the men suddenly start blubbering about how unfair it is. What a bunch of whiners.

McQ blogged So lose weight, Robby, or give her a hundred pounds of your musculature ... but most of all, put a sock in it and race. As I understand it the car AND driver together must meet a minimum weight, and I would suppose she's done that.