No offense Joe but I think both ideas are bad. Trans axles do not appear to be a weak point, I've never seen one fail yet and at nationals I didn't see one car with a cooler yet we all survived. Any time you add the word "any" into a rule set you are asking for trouble and wild interpretations. Besides I don't want to be following a car that has a home brewed cooler setup when it starts to fail. Use a good gear lube and you will be fine, trust me!
As for the shifter, the slop can be fixed for pennies. The trouble point is the pin on the lever, just grind it off, tack in a bolt you already have, tighten it up and off you go. I just did this the fancy way and used needle bearing washers and it's like brand new for $5! Imagine if you say "any shifter" you'll have someone with a 3 foot long lever, pedal extensions and steering spacer and be sitting in the back seat. It's also been my experience that short shifters ADD to miss shifts not helping to stop them.
Too much vagueness, too costly and very unnecessary!