46 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 22 scored contests and 5,218 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 LA record book — every record below counts only contests held in LA. 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.
CAJUN BLAZE at Jim Bowie BBQ Throwdown Sep 25, 2015
45-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
Cat Pumping at Hammond BBQ, Inc. (BACKYARD ONLY) Mar 25, 2022
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.
Lil John's BBQ at The Jim Bowie BBQ Throwdown Sep 26, 2014
won the category with it
Held jointly by 3 — 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.
SMOKIN' N THE DARK at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Mar 7, 2014
won the category with it
Held jointly by 6 — 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.
CAJUN BLAZE at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Mar 1, 2013
won the category with it
Held jointly by 7 — 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.
IOWA'S SMOKEY D'S BBQ at Slidell BBQ Challenge Mar 29, 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.
Kermit's Ex at VPD Back the Blue BBQ Competition Nov 3, 2023
finished 2nd, behind Glamping Grillers
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
PELLET ENVY at Hammond Blues and BBQ Mar 22, 2013
and still beat 49 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.
VPD Back the Blue BBQ Competition Nov 3, 2023
27 teams · won with 709.1200
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
Hamond BBQ Mar 25, 2016
58 teams · top score 697.0972
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
Jim Bowie BBQ Throwdown Sep 27, 2013
38 teams · even the win only took 689.6228
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
LONGNECK SIPPERS at Grillin'@Gator Grounds Sep 15, 2017
over Pork N P's
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
RAZORRACKS at Hammond BBQ Mar 22, 2019
over CAJUN BLAZE
A whole weekend — four meats, twenty-four judging cards — decided by a rounding error.
Grand Championships, reserve finishes, dynasties and droughts.
CAJUN BLAZE Sep 25, 2015
from 13 contests · first in 2013
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
CAJUN BLAZE Mar 22, 2019
from 13 contests · 3 titles
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
CAJUN BLAZE Sep 25, 2015
3 titles in all
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
IOWA'S SMOKEY D'S BBQ at Hammond BBQ Mar 23, 2018
won 2017–2018
The contest a team has made their own — turning up every year and taking it home again.
IOWA'S SMOKEY D'S BBQ at Hammond BBQ Mar 23, 2018
2017–2018, straight
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
CAJUN BLAZE at Hammond BBQ Mar 21, 2014
won it with 694.7884
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
Sweet Bayou BBQ at VPD Back the Blue BBQ Competition Oct 24, 2025
the title finally came in 2025
Proof it is worth going back. Every team here cooked for years before the call finally came.
CAJUN BLAZE Sep 25, 2015
2013 → 2015 · 3 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
Glamping Grillers Nov 3, 2023
in 1 state
Held jointly by 6 — nobody has beaten it.
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 Mar 22, 2019
across 2 of the four meats
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
LONGNECK SIPPERS Sep 15, 2017
the 2017 season
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
LONGNECK SIPPERS Sep 15, 2017
1 of them with the Grand Championship too
Chicken, ribs, pork and brisket, all first, all on the same day. Most teams never see one.
IOWA'S SMOKEY D'S BBQ Mar 24, 2017
in 2 different meats · first in 2013
A 180 means all six judges handed back a nine for appearance, taste and tenderness. These teams have collected them.
THE BLUE BLOODS at Smokin Blues & BBQ Mar 27, 2015
first in 2014 · 8 contests to complete the set
Held jointly by 5 — 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.
CAJUN BLAZE at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Mar 1, 2013
Pork · Mar 1, 2013
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
VPD Back the Blue BBQ Competition Nov 3, 2023
shared by 4 teams in a field of 27
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.
FIRE DANCER BBQ Oct 25, 2024
2013 → 2024
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
CAJUN BLAZE Oct 24, 2025
2013 → 2025 · 13 contests
Rigs wear out and cooks retire. These teams were still turning in boxes more than a decade after their first one.
FIRE DANCER BBQ Oct 25, 2024
13 contests, 2013 → 2024
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
FIRE DANCER BBQ Dec 31, 2019
2013 → 2019, no gaps
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
An unbroken run. Every single year, the rig came back out of the shed.
BAYOU BOOGIE BBQ Sep 27, 2013
the 2013 season
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
CAJUN BLAZE Mar 22, 2019
from 13 contests
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
IOWA'S SMOKEY D'S BBQ at Hammond BBQ Mar 22, 2019
2014 → 2019 · won it 2×
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
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.
Hammond BBQ Mar 21, 2014
won with 694.7884
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
Smokin' Triggers Cooking Class Feb 28, 2020
2017 → 2020
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
Hammond BBQ Mar 22, 2019
4 editions · biggest 61
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Mar 3, 2017
from 3 editions with a champion on file
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
VPD Back the Blue BBQ Competition Oct 24, 2025
33 teams cooking for it
What was actually on the table. Listed purses only — KCBS does not publish who took home which slice of it.
Mar 1, 2013 Mar 1, 2013
across 1 states and provinces
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
One Saturday, this many contests, every one of them lighting a fire at the same hour.
The 2015 season Sep 25, 2015
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.
Maria Lohman Oct 23, 2026
2022 → 2026
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Scott Grinstead Mar 25, 2022
the 2022 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Maria Lohman Oct 24, 2025
at 4 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pork Ribs toughest room | 858 | 162.26 | 177.18 | 6 | 7 |
| Brisket | 791 | 163.26 | 177.44 | 11 | 13.9 |
| Chicken | 858 | 164.14 | 177.45 | 3 | 3.5 |
| Pork | 790 | 165.18 | 177.58 | 7 | 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.