Oh! That happened to me one other time. LOL Brett, you are right in the way the rules are written. I think where some of the confusion comes in, is that there is an ignition only Old Time Stunt event at VSC, in which only period sparkers can be used for sure. On the other hand, you can also fly period correct sparkers in the regular Old Time Stunt event, and get the 10 point bonus. And, as Kim has said, you can also fly electric in Old Time Stunt, but of course no extra points. But, I cannot see any reason ( except for the way the rule is written ) that you could not fly a modern ignition engine in Old Time Stunt. May be we need a tweak in the rules.
We need somebody bigger than me to clear this up. LOL
Interstingly, Saito started out with a 60 sparker back in the 70's. I do not think it is a SAM approved sparker though. They do have a list of approved sparkers on their web site.