I read the article "Unlimited...limited" and mostly agreed with Tony. So I hijacked the idea and posted a paraphrased version on the Biplane Forum where I thought it would receive a favorable following. But before I relate the gist of the responses there, here's where I'm coming from: Warrenton, VA '13 was my first contest. The first time I ever saw a box was there with Eric Sandifer on the handheld coaching me through the Sportsman Known. My first volunteer job was to record for Tony later that day. I just don't see myself flying Advanced. At my age and negative G tolerance, Intermediate offers more than enough to keep me on my toes. So I don't know why I care. But I do. Maybe it's because I still appreciate that four minutes of coaching from Eric and now want to watch him compete and thrive in his new category. The same holds true for Jason Flood, my first and best friend in this sport. I see real logic in carving out Advanced as the pinnacle of 4 cylinder competition and Unlimited as the pinnacle of competition overall. Without this wall between the two, the idea of international Advanced competition seems oddly wasteful to me. It's basically spending hundreds of thousands of dollars sending two teams flying the same same planes to do basically the same sequences. But that's just me. Having limited my tailslides and outside snaps to 4000 AGL maybe I just don't appreciate the giant chasm between the categories.

As for the response over at the biplane forum, it was surprisingly hostile to Tony's idea. The resistance boiled down to:
1. It's the pilot, not the plane that competes.
2. If you are in it for the trophy, you're in it for all the wrong reasons.
3. Limiting or handicapping unnecessarily complicates an already low attendance sport.