Smoke on the Rail BBQ Festival (Day 2)
2024-07-27 – 2024-07-28 · New Freedom, PA · 📍 1 Playground Alley · State championship
Reps: BILL JONES, LOUISE WEIDNER, ROBERT MCKEE · Prize money: $9,200.00
Grand Champion: The Fat is Where It's At (703.9544) · 32 teams
Reserve Champion: 🥈 WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ
Entries
Top score
Winning margin
Field average
Perfect 180s
Tightest race
Top-10 cutoff
Field spread
Prize money
Double threats
How hot was the win?
Traveled in
Came back for more
Form held
Field strength
Storylines
📸 Photo finishes
Master Series — Chicken places 1–2: PIGGIN' WHISKEY and 3 EYZ BBQ tied on 178.8572 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker. Master Series — Chicken places 2–3: 3 EYZ BBQ and The Fat is Where It's At tied on 178.8572 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker. Master Series — Chicken places 4–5: Live Q or Die and QUE U tied on 177.7144 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker.
🛡️ Back to defend
Past winners of this contest cooked this edition: Rooters-N-Tooters TN (won 2024).
🃏 An upset on the books
The Fat is Where It's At came in rated below the field's top team, ROOTERS-N-TOOTERS TN, and took the Grand Championship anyway — roughly a 33-in-100 shot on pre-contest ratings.
Score curves (score by finishing position — steep cliffs mean a spread field, flat lines a knife fight)
Category showdown (top / average / median score per meat)
Score distribution
Biggest rating movers (power-rating points won and lost at this contest)
Did form hold? (pre-contest rating vs overall finish — ratings called it if the dots climb to the right)
Where the field came from (home regions on file)
This contest over the years full contest page →
| Date | Where | Venue | Teams | High score | Grand Champion | Reserve Champion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-07-26 | New Freedom, PA | 1 Playground Alley | 35 | 693.0512 | Rooters-N-Tooters TN | BLUE EYED BBQ |
| 2024-07-27 ← this one | New Freedom, PA | 1 Playground Alley | 32 | 703.9544 | The Fat is Where It's At | WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ |
| 2025-07-25 | New Freedom, PA | 1 Playground Alley | 30 | 706.8112 | Piggy & Swine BBQ | HotMess BBQ |
| 2025-07-26 | New Freedom, PA | 1 Playground Alley | 27 | 704.5256 | Smokin Hoggz BBQ - MA | OLD VIRGINIA SMOKE |
| 2026-07-24 | New Freedom, PA | 1 Playground Alley | 43 | 710.8688 | B's Que | BBQ Maestros |
| 2026-07-25 | New Freedom, PA | 1 Playground Alley | 39 | 707.4172 | Boggs Hog BBQ | ELJEFE SMOKE |
| 2027-07-23 | New Freedom, PA | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2027-07-24 | New Freedom, PA | — | — | — | — | — |
What a call cost (the score it took to finish 1st, 5th and 10th)
| Category | 1st | 5th | 10th |
|---|---|---|---|
| Master Series — Chicken | 178.8572 | 177.7144 | 176.5600 |
| Master Series — Pork Ribs | 178.8572 | 174.8572 | 173.1200 |
| Master Series — Pork | 177.7144 | 176.5600 | 174.2744 |
| Master Series — Brisket | 179.4400 | 175.4056 | 170.8228 |
| Backyard Series — Chicken | 176.5600 | 171.9772 | 167.3828 |
| Backyard Series — Pork Ribs | 177.7144 | 171.9656 | 166.2516 |
| Ancillary — Pork | 169.1200 | 153.0972 | — |
Official results on kcbs.us ↗
Master Series
Overall
32 entries · top 703.9544 · median 680.7430
Chicken
32 entries · top 178.8572 · median 171.1258
Pork Ribs
32 entries · top 178.8572 · median 169.4114
Pork
32 entries · top 177.7144 · median 170.8458
Brisket
32 entries · top 179.4400 · median 167.9658
Backyard Series
Overall
24 entries · top 347.9772 · median 329.9200
Chicken
24 entries · top 176.5600 · median 166.2572
Pork Ribs
24 entries · top 177.7144 · median 164.8460
Ancillary
Pork
5 entries · top 169.1200 · median 158.2400
| # | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bill's Back Yard | |
| 2 | All About the Wood | |
| 3 | Oink N' Doink BBQ | |
| 4 | Leaning Jowler BBQ | |
| 5 | Stroked Out Cooking Team |
Ancillary categories
Run by the organizers alongside the sanctioned contest. These are judged on their own terms and do not count toward the overall score, so they're kept out of the meat stats above.
Ancillary — Dessert
12 entries · top 178.8572 · median 174.5600