53 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 145 scored contests and 21,742 result rows. Beat one and you appear here the next morning.
Overall scores are only ever ranked against their own series — Master out of 720, Backyard out of 360 — so the overall-score records here are Master boards unless they say Backyard. The Backyard series keeps a full record board of its own.
State and provincial record books are here; outside North America, every country has its own page under Regions →
Showing the IA record book — every record below counts only contests held in IA. Records that can't honestly be cut by state are left out rather than shown with their national holder: power ratings, career streaks and Team of the Year are computed over a team's whole career, wherever they cooked it.
The biggest — and smallest — numbers anybody has ever put in front of six judges.
WAG'S BACKWOODS BBQ at Iowa State BBQ Championship Apr 3, 2026
42-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
DAWGS BBQ at Iowa State BBQ Championship Apr 3, 2026
won the board
The Backyard board runs on its own scale, so it keeps its own record — pooled with Master it would never surface at all.
LUCKY'S Q at Back to Back to the Park BBQ (Day 2) Oct 18, 2014
won the category with it
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
The best chicken anybody has ever turned in. 180 is the ceiling — every judge at the table handing back a nine — so a tie goes to whoever got there first.
Chick Hooven Swine BBQ at Up in Smoke BBQ Bash Jul 22, 2016
won the category with it
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
The best pork ribs anybody has ever turned in. 180 is the ceiling — every judge at the table handing back a nine — so a tie goes to whoever got there first.
TRUEBUD BBQ at Smokin' in the Junction May 24, 2014
won the category with it
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
The best pork anybody has ever turned in. 180 is the ceiling — every judge at the table handing back a nine — so a tie goes to whoever got there first.
FARMBOY BBQ at Lynch Livestock Pig Stampede Aug 16, 2013
won the category with it
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
The best brisket anybody has ever turned in. 180 is the ceiling — every judge at the table handing back a nine — so a tie goes to whoever got there first.
Big Racks BBQ at 10th Annual E'burg BBQ Contest Jul 24, 2026
finished 2nd, behind Nectar of the Hogs
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
SHIGGIN & GRINNIN at Up in Smoke BBQ Bash Sep 28, 2018
and still beat 28 other teams
The days the judges gave nothing away. Somebody still had to win, and this is the smallest number that ever did it in a real field.
10th Annual E'burg BBQ Contest Jul 24, 2026
17 teams · won with 705.6916
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
10th Annual E'burg BBQ Contest Jul 24, 2026
17 teams · top score 705.6916
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
BBQ'Loo & Blues Too! Jul 19, 2013
34 teams · even the win only took 690.2284
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
HOT DADDY'S BBQ Sep 18, 2026
42 contests · best 705.1088
Anyone can catch one good day. This is the highest anybody has averaged across a real career.
IOWA'S SMOKEY D'S BBQ at Lynch Livestock Pig Stampede Aug 16, 2013
over GRILLS GONE WILD IOWA
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS at BBQ in the Bluffs May 8, 2015
over OVERSIZE LOAD BBQ
A whole weekend — four meats, twenty-four judging cards — decided by a rounding error.
Grand Championships, reserve finishes, dynasties and droughts.
IOWA'S SMOKEY D'S BBQ Jul 26, 2024
from 54 contests · first in 2013
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
IOWA'S SMOKEY D'S BBQ Jun 14, 2019
from 54 contests · 11 titles
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
Smokin Suckers Sep 15, 2023
across 16 contests, still waiting
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The cruellest record in the book. Every team here has stood on the stage second, and never once first.
HOT DADDY'S BBQ Sep 18, 2026
10 titles from 42 contests
Winning often matters more than winning a lot. This is how often a team turns up and takes the whole thing.
IOWA'S SMOKEY D'S BBQ Aug 16, 2013
the 2013 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The best year anybody has ever had. Four in a season is a career year; these went past it.
IOWA'S SMOKEY D'S BBQ Jul 26, 2024
11 titles in all
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
LUCKY'S Q at BBQ'Loo & Blues Too! Jul 14, 2017
won 2015–2017
The contest a team has made their own — turning up every year and taking it home again.
LUCKY'S Q at BBQ'Loo & Blues Too! Jul 14, 2017
2015–2017, straight
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
TIPPYCANOE BBQ CREW at Up in Smoke BBQ Bash Jul 26, 2013
won it with 691.9432
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
TRUE SMOKE BBQ at First Annual Half Way to St.Pat's BBQ Contest Aug 26, 2017
the title finally came in 2017
Proof it is worth going back. Every team here cooked for years before the call finally came.
SHIGGIN & GRINNIN Sep 19, 2025
2013 → 2025 · 8 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
HOT DADDY'S BBQ Jun 19, 2026
in 1 state
Some contests hand out a state championship alongside the trophy. These teams have collected the most of them.
The four meats: who wins them, and who has been handed a flawless card.
IOWA'S SMOKEY D'S BBQ Jul 25, 2025
across all four meats
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
Pig Skin BBQ Sep 19, 2014
the 2014 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
LUCKY'S Q Oct 4, 2019
in 3 different meats · first in 2014
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
A 180 means all six judges handed back a nine for appearance, taste and tenderness. These teams have collected them.
DAWGS BBQ at Iowa State BBQ Championship Apr 3, 2026
Chicken, Pork Ribs
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
One perfect card is a story worth retelling. Two before the awards ceremony is a record.
LUCKY'S Q Oct 4, 2019
the 2019 season
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
HOT DADDY'S BBQ at Iowa State BBQ Championship Apr 3, 2026
first in 2023 · 62 contests to complete the set
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
A perfect card in chicken, ribs, pork AND brisket. The date is the day the set was completed; the board is led by whoever needed the fewest contests to finish it.
FARMBOY BBQ at Lynch Livestock Pig Stampede Aug 16, 2013
Brisket · Aug 16, 2013
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
10th Annual E'burg BBQ Contest Jul 24, 2026
shared by 4 teams in a field of 17
Some tables run hot. At these contests the judges handed out flawless cards all afternoon.
Longevity — the teams who keep turning up, and keep turning it in.
SMOKEHOUSE 72 Sep 18, 2026
2013 → 2026
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
SPITFIRE Sep 18, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 46 contests
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
Rigs wear out and cooks retire. These teams were still turning in boxes more than a decade after their first one.
SMOKEHOUSE 72 Sep 18, 2026
67 contests, 2013 → 2026
Held jointly by 6 — nobody has beaten it.
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
DRY 2 DA BONE Dec 31, 2026
2013 → 2026, no gaps
Held jointly by 6 — nobody has beaten it.
An unbroken run. Every single year, the rig came back out of the shed.
WOODWARD BARBEQUE Oct 18, 2014
the 2014 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
IOWA'S SMOKEY D'S BBQ Jun 19, 2026
from 54 contests
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
BIG T'Z Q CRU Jun 17, 2022
27 from 30 contests
Consistency, stated as a percentage. Turn up, and this is how often you were still standing at the end.
SMOKE DOCTOR at Tri City BBQ Fest Sep 18, 2026
2014 → 2026
The contest a team never misses — on the calendar in ink, every single year.
Records held by the contests themselves rather than by the teams.
Up in Smoke BBQ Bash Jul 26, 2013
won with 691.9432
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
Tri City BBQ Fest Sep 18, 2026
2014 → 2026 · about 28 teams a year
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
Up in Smoke BBQ Bash Sep 28, 2018
6 editions · biggest 66
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
Tri City BBQ Fest Sep 18, 2026
from 12 editions with a champion on file
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
Iowa State BBQ Championship Apr 1, 2022
in a field of 48 · won with 689.6800
Out of 720 points, this many teams finished inside ONE of the leader. Any of them could have won it with a better garnish.
Smoketoberfest Oct 4, 2019
49 teams cooking for it
What was actually on the table. Listed purses only — KCBS does not publish who took home which slice of it.
Apr 1, 2022 Apr 1, 2022
across 1 states and provinces
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
One Saturday, this many contests, every one of them lighting a fire at the same hour.
The 2014 season Oct 18, 2014
across 1 states and provinces
The high-water mark for the sport itself — the year the calendar was fullest.
Somebody has to run the table. These are the ones who have run the most.
Cindy Juhl Jul 23, 2027
2019 → 2027
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Cindy Juhl Oct 4, 2019
the 2019 season
Held jointly by 5 — nobody has beaten it.
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Cindy Juhl Jul 31, 2026
at 22 contests
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
How many separate teams have taken a Grand Championship at a contest this rep was running.
| Year | Series | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 ↗ | Backyard | DAWGS BBQ 🏆 | 1,356 |
| 2026 ↗ | Master | JANKY LEG BBQ 🏆 | 2,682 |
| 2025 ↗ | Backyard | Electro-Que-ted 🏆 | 1,414 |
| 2025 ↗ | Master | GETTIN' BASTED 🏆 | 2,826 |
| 2024 ↗ | Backyard | WEEZ'S GROOVIN' BBQ 🏆 | 1,404 |
| 2024 ↗ | Master | CHUNKY BBQ 🏆 | 2,734 |
| 2023 ↗ | Master | JANKY LEG BBQ 🏆 | 2,773 |
| 2022 ↗ | Master | Uncle Pig's Barbeque Pit 🏆 | 2,761 |
| 2021 ↗ | Master | GETTIN' BASTED 🏆 | 2,804 |
| 2020 ↗ | Master | GETTIN' BASTED 🏆 | 2,670 |
| 2019 ↗ | Master | B-S BBQ OUTLAWS 🏆 | 2,774 |
| 2018 ↗ | Master | GETTIN' BASTED 🏆 | 2,840 |
| 2017 ↗ | Master | CLARK CREW BBQ 🏆 | 2,850 |
| 2016 ↗ | Master | PORKY BUTTS BBQ 🏆 | 2,846 |
| 2015 ↗ | Master | CLARK CREW BBQ 🏆 | 2,843 |
| 2014 ↗ | Master | WARREN COUNTY PORK CHOPPERS 🏆 | 2,936 |
| 2013 ↗ | Master | WARREN COUNTY PORK CHOPPERS 🏆 | 2,940 |
| 2013 ↗ | Master | TRUEBUD BBQ 🏆 | 2,940 |
| Category | Entries | Avg score | Avg winning score | Perfect 180s | 180s per 1,000 entries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brisket toughest room | 3,862 | 163.79 | 177.45 | 17 | 4.4 |
| Pork Ribs | 4,490 | 164.30 | 176.70 | 11 | 2.4 |
| Pork | 3,900 | 165.70 | 177.58 | 27 | 6.9 |
| Chicken | 4,486 | 166.18 | 177.58 | 40 | 8.9 |
Sorted by average score — the category at the top scores lowest across the whole field, which usually means the judges are hardest to please there.