A new contest record
703.9544
highest overall ever cooked here
703.9544 is the highest overall score this contest has ever produced — past the 693.0512 Rooters-N-Tooters TN set in 2024.
- old record 693.0512
- set 2024 by Rooters-N-Tooters TN
Smoke on the Rail BBQ Festival (Day 2) 2024
Jul 27–28, 2024 · New Freedom, PA · 📍 1 Playground Alley · State championship
Reps: Bill Jones, Louise Weidner, Robert McKee · Prize money: $9,200
The Fat is Where It's At won Grand Champion at the Smoke on the Rail BBQ Festival (Day 2) on July 27, 2024 in New Freedom, PA at 1 Playground Alley, scoring 703.9544 in a field of 32 teams. WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ took Reserve Grand Champion with 701.1200. Category winners: Chicken — PIGGIN' WHISKEY (178.8572); Pork Ribs — OLD VIRGINIA SMOKE (178.8572); Pork — GLAZED AND INFUSED NEW JERSEY BBQ (177.7144); Brisket — WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ (179.4400). The Backyard Series standings were won by Backwooder BBQ with 347.9772. This is the 2nd of 8 editions of this contest on record; the 2024 edition was won by Rooters-N-Tooters TN; the next was held in 2025.
The contest at a glance (read off the scored boards)
How the field scored
Overall totals, every team on the board — tall stacks are where the pack sat.
602.70
median 680.74
703.95 🏆
How the meats cooked
Every board on one scale — the bar runs last score to first, the dot is the median.
- Master Series — Chicken 178.86
- Master Series — Pork Ribs 178.86
- Master Series — Pork 177.71
- Master Series — Brisket 179.44
- Backyard Series — Chicken 176.56
- Backyard Series — Pork Ribs 177.71
- Ancillary — Pork 169.12
139.98
179.44
Winning score by edition
What it has taken to win here, 2024 to 2026 — this edition picked out.
Entries
32
7 judged meats · 1 ancillary
Top score
703.9544
Winning margin
2.8344
GC over RC
Field average
675.42
602.70703.95
median 680.74 · last place to winner
Perfect 180s
0
Tightest race
Chicken
1.1428 pts across the top 5
Top-10 cutoff
690.2172
602.70703.95
10th place overall
Field spread
101.2572
winner to last place
Prize money
$9,200
on the line
Double threats
9
teams with 2+ top-5 calls
How hot was the win?
Top 18%
beats 82% of 4711 Master Series wins in the data
Came back for more
73%
53 of 73 teams from the previous edition returned
Form held
Moderate
ρ = -0.58 between pre-contest rating and finish
Field strength
1,592
avg power rating going in · stronger than 72% of contests
Storylines (7 found in this contest's numbers)
Everything below is read straight out of the results — the number on each card is the one that made it a story.
An upset on the books
30-in-100
shot on pre-contest ratings
The ratings favoured the top seed the other 70 times in 100
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 30-in-100 shot on pre-contest ratings.
- champion 1751
- top seed 1902
Won without a category win
4 of 4
meats called to the stage
The Fat is Where It's At won the Grand Championship without winning a single meat — 4 calls from 4 boards, best of them 3rd. Consistency beat fireworks.
- Chicken 3rd
- Pork Ribs 6th
- Pork 5th
- Brisket 6th
Photo finishes
Tie
closest of 22 calls decided inside half a point
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.
- Master Series — Chicken 1–2 · tie
- Master Series — Chicken 2–3 · tie
- Master Series — Chicken 4–5 · tie
- Master Series — Chicken 5–6 · tie
A contest record in brisket
179.4400
best brisket ever cooked here
WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ turned in 179.4400 in brisket — past the 175.4172 that had stood across 1 earlier editions.
- old best 175.4172
- across 1 past editions
Back to defend
1
past champions back in the field
Past winners of this contest cooked this edition: Rooters-N-Tooters TN (won 2024).
- Rooters-N-Tooters TN · 2024
They keep coming back
73%
of last edition’s field returned
53 of 73 teams from 2024-07-26 came back
53 of the 73 teams that cooked the previous edition came back for this one — a contest people put on the calendar.
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)
This contest over the years full contest page →
| Date | Where | Venue | Teams | High score | Grand Champion | Reserve Champion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 26, 2024 | New Freedom, PA | 1 Playground Alley | 35 | 693.0512 | Rooters-N-Tooters TN | BLUE EYED BBQ |
| Jul 27, 2024 ← this one | New Freedom, PA | 1 Playground Alley | 32 | 703.9544 | The Fat is Where It's At | WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ |
| Jul 25, 2025 | New Freedom, PA | 1 Playground Alley | 30 | 706.8112 | Piggy & Swine BBQ | HotMess BBQ |
| Jul 26, 2025 | New Freedom, PA | 1 Playground Alley | 27 | 704.5256 | Smokin Hoggz BBQ - MA | OLD VIRGINIA SMOKE |
| Jul 24, 2026 | New Freedom, PA | 1 Playground Alley | 43 | 710.8688 | B's Que | BBQ Maestros |
| Jul 25, 2026 | New Freedom, PA | 1 Playground Alley | 39 | 707.4172 | Boggs Hog BBQ | ELJEFE SMOKE |
| Jul 23, 2027 | New Freedom, PA | — | — | — | — | — |
| Jul 24, 2027 | 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