Be kind enough to remember that our Nationals is an AMA contest. Events flown by the AMA Rulebook are a strong reason for AMA to put up with many events of "moderate" participation year-round: They ARE AMA Rulebook events...
Dropping the traditional Rulebook wording for this one occasion a year seems a bit much. Explain to AMA that our most important event at THEIR Nationals will NOT be a basic OFFICIAL AMA event?
We could change the basic CLPA rules, of course, but do we need to? Gone also would be the Walker Trophy fly-off and the National Age Category Championships... Or should we change those, too, denying the 70+ year tradition?
Who will start the campaign to do all this? How far would it get? PAMPA Skill Class rules have allowed OP airplanes to compete, with loss of Appearance Points, since the mid-1970's. And PAMPA Classes rules ARE AMA Rulebook events, and technically OFFICIAL, but not qualified for the Walker, or (age-category) Championship selections. Those are traditions counting many, many years, as are so many of our fellow CLPA fliers... ever wonder what a simple average of our ages might be? Add all our ages and divide by how many of us there are?
"Oo-ooh, scary, kids...." quote from the 'vampire' Count Brucie of Second City TV, years back....