53 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 175 scored contests and 35,402 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 NC record book — every record below counts only contests held in NC. 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.
REDNECK SCIENTIFIC at Jiggy With The Piggy - Day 1 May 5, 2023
35-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
Bourbon & Blues BBQ at Jiggy With The Piggy - Day 1 May 5, 2023
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.
SAUCED! BBQ TEAM at Lincolnton Hog Happenin' Jun 6, 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.
CHECKERED PIG at Tilley Harley-Davidson Biker Blues BBQ Rally Sep 19, 2014
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.
SMOKE IN THE MOUNTAINS at Mountain High BBQ Festival & Car Show Aug 9, 2013
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.
SMOKE IN THE MOUNTAINS at Blue Ridge BBQ & Music Festival Jun 14, 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.
Fergolicious BBQ at Jiggy With The Piggy - Day 1 May 5, 2023
finished 2nd, behind Redneck Scientific
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
DEEP SOUTH BBQ at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Jun 7, 2013
and still beat 25 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.
Jiggy With The Piggy - Day 2 May 4, 2024
35 teams · won with 702.2516
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
Jiggy With The Piggy - Day 2 May 6, 2023
23 teams · top score 707.3944
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
Lincolnton Hog Happenin' Jun 7, 2013
34 teams · even the win only took 693.1428
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
ROOTERS-N-TOOTERS TN Feb 27, 2026
22 contests · best 703.3944
Anyone can catch one good day. This is the highest anybody has averaged across a real career.
CHECKERED PIG at Tilley Harley-Davidson Biker Blues BBQ Rally Sep 19, 2014
over REDNECK SCIENTIFIC
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ at Smokin' in the Pines Mar 28, 2025
over SMOKIN SKULLIES
A whole weekend — four meats, twenty-four judging cards — decided by a rounding error.
Plus 1 championship where the top two finished dead level on points and the KCBS tiebreaker decided it — counted here rather than listed, because a board of identical 0.0000 margins says nothing about who nearly won what.
Grand Championships, reserve finishes, dynasties and droughts.
REDNECK SCIENTIFIC May 5, 2023
from 105 contests · first in 2013
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
REDNECK SCIENTIFIC Apr 28, 2023
from 105 contests · 19 titles
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
T & S BBQ May 4, 2024
across 4 contests, still waiting
Held jointly by 8 — nobody has beaten it.
The cruellest record in the book. Every team here has stood on the stage second, and never once first.
ROCKY TOP BARBEQUE Oct 29, 2021
8 titles from 41 contests
Winning often matters more than winning a lot. This is how often a team turns up and takes the whole thing.
REDNECK SCIENTIFIC Oct 7, 2016
the 2016 season
The best year anybody has ever had. Four in a season is a career year; these went past it.
REDNECK SCIENTIFIC May 5, 2023
19 titles in all
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
ROCKY TOP BARBEQUE at Hog Happnin' Nov 4, 2016
won 2013–2016
The contest a team has made their own — turning up every year and taking it home again.
TWO OLD MEN AND A GRILL at BBQ Capital Cook Off Apr 24, 2015
2013–2015, straight
Held jointly by 8 — nobody has beaten it.
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
ROCKY TOP BARBEQUE at Blue Ridge BBQ & Music Festival Jun 14, 2013
won it with 704.5712
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
MUTTLEY CREW BBQ at Beak Week BBQ Challenge Sep 8, 2017
the title finally came in 2017
Proof it is worth going back. Every team here cooked for years before the call finally came.
SMOKIN SKULLIES Sep 19, 2025
2014 → 2025 · 5 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
MUTTLEY CREW BBQ Apr 7, 2023
in 1 state
Held jointly by 4 — 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.
REDNECK SCIENTIFIC Sep 15, 2023
across all four meats
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
REDNECK SCIENTIFIC Nov 11, 2016
the 2016 season
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
REDNECK SCIENTIFIC May 5, 2023
in 4 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.
CHECKERED PIG at Tilley Harley-Davidson Biker Blues BBQ Rally Sep 19, 2014
Chicken, Pork Ribs
Held jointly by 6 — nobody has beaten it.
One perfect card is a story worth retelling. Two before the awards ceremony is a record.
REDNECK SCIENTIFIC Nov 11, 2016
the 2016 season
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
REDNECK SCIENTIFIC at Pigs & Pedals Aug 3, 2018
first in 2013 · 103 contests to complete the set
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.
SMOKE IN THE MOUNTAINS at Blue Ridge BBQ & Music Festival Jun 14, 2013
Brisket · Jun 14, 2013
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
Shelby BBQ Extravaganza (Day 2) Oct 29, 2022
shared by 8 teams in a field of 34
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.
MUTTLEY CREW BBQ Sep 18, 2026
2014 → 2026
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
EB'S BAR-B-QUE Sep 18, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 47 contests
Held jointly by 2 — 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.
SMOKIN SKULLIES Sep 18, 2026
96 contests, 2013 → 2026
Held jointly by 5 — nobody has beaten it.
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
HOGGY BOTTOM BOYS Dec 31, 2026
2013 → 2026, no gaps
Held jointly by 5 — nobody has beaten it.
An unbroken run. Every single year, the rig came back out of the shed.
REDNECK SCIENTIFIC Nov 11, 2016
the 2016 season · 7 titles
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
REDNECK SCIENTIFIC Sep 19, 2025
from 105 contests
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
Optimus Swine Feb 27, 2026
25 from 28 contests
Consistency, stated as a percentage. Turn up, and this is how often you were still standing at the end.
MIDNIGHT BURN at Mountain High BBQ Festival & Car Show Aug 9, 2019
2013 → 2019 · won it 2×
Held jointly by 6 — 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.
Blue Ridge BBQ & Music Festival Jun 14, 2013
won with 704.5712
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
Mountain High BBQ Festival & Car Show Aug 9, 2019
2013 → 2019 · about 39 teams a year
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
Blue Ridge BBQ & Music Festival Jun 10, 2016
4 editions · biggest 97
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
Pigmaster's BBQ Challenge Sep 18, 2026
from 6 editions with a champion on file
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
Shelby BBQ Extravaganza (Day 2) Oct 29, 2022
in a field of 34 · won with 699.9544
Out of 720 points, this many teams finished inside ONE of the leader. Any of them could have won it with a better garnish.
Jiggy With The Piggy - Day 1 May 3, 2024
45 teams cooking for it
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
What was actually on the table. Listed purses only — KCBS does not publish who took home which slice of it.
Jun 7, 2013 Jun 7, 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 Dec 17, 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.
Alan Rothrock Oct 23, 2026
2019 → 2026
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Alan Rothrock Dec 11, 2021
the 2021 season
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Alan Rothrock Sep 18, 2026
at 50 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.
| Team | GCs this season |
|---|---|
| ROOTERS-N-TOOTERS TN | 1 |
| MCADOO HEIGHTS BBQ | 1 |
| FRED VEGAS SMOKERS | 1 |
| Clean Smoke BBQ Team | 1 |
| ALPINE SMOKE WORKS | 1 |
| 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 | 6,600 | 163.29 | 177.65 | 44 | 6.7 |
| Pork Ribs | 6,797 | 164.03 | 177.16 | 24 | 3.5 |
| Pork | 6,647 | 164.92 | 177.23 | 28 | 4.2 |
| Chicken | 6,804 | 165.94 | 177.98 | 58 | 8.5 |
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.