53 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 71 scored contests and 12,509 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 NE record book — every record below counts only contests held in NE. 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.
LC BBQ at Central Plains Ribfest Day 2 Jun 19, 2021
36-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
Too Sauced BBQ at Goose's 1st Annual Pitmaster Showdown Jul 11, 2025
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.
PHAT JACKS BBQ NE at 21st Annual State Barbeque Championship of Nebraska Aug 16, 2013
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.
PORKY MCBEEF AND THE CLUCKERS at Sauce and Cycles Jul 4, 2014
won the category with it
Held jointly by 9 — 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.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS at Pony Express BBQ Challenge Apr 25, 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.
STARS AND STRIPES BBQ at Pony Express BBQ Challenge Apr 25, 2014
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.
DIRT ROAD BBQ at Central Plains Ribfest Day 2 Jun 19, 2021
finished 2nd, behind LC BBQ
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
TATTOO BOB'S BAR-B-Q at 3rd Annual Valley Veterans Barbecue Competition May 30, 2014
and still beat 29 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.
Sandhills Smoke Show BBQ Sep 25, 2026
19 teams · won with 704.5484
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
Sandhills Smoke Show BBQ Sep 25, 2026
19 teams · top score 704.5484
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
Pony Express BBQ Challenge Apr 26, 2013
47 teams · even the win only took 681.1426
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
DIRT ROAD BBQ Sep 4, 2021
25 contests · best 705.0972
Anyone can catch one good day. This is the highest anybody has averaged across a real career.
PORK PATROL BBQ at 2nd Annual Ribstock MBA BBQ Festival Jun 27, 2014
over TATOO BOB'S BAR-B-Q
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
HELPING U BBQ at Central Plains Ribfest Jun 16, 2017
over DIRT ROAD BBQ
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.
PORKY BUTTS BBQ Aug 13, 2021
from 33 contests · first in 2015
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
SMOKIN' LEFTY'S BBQ Jan 24, 2025
from 47 contests · 1 title
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
HUNKA HUNKA BURNIN' RUB Apr 20, 2018
across 12 contests, still waiting
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
The cruellest record in the book. Every team here has stood on the stage second, and never once first.
DIRT ROAD BBQ Sep 4, 2021
5 titles from 25 contests
Winning often matters more than winning a lot. This is how often a team turns up and takes the whole thing.
PORK PATROL BBQ Jul 18, 2014
the 2014 season
The best year anybody has ever had. Four in a season is a career year; these went past it.
PORKY BUTTS BBQ Aug 13, 2021
6 titles in all
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
DIRT ROAD BBQ at Septemberfest BBQ & Rib-eye Steak cook-off challenge Sep 4, 2021
won 2019–2021
The contest a team has made their own — turning up every year and taking it home again.
DIRT ROAD BBQ at Septemberfest BBQ & Rib-eye Steak cook-off challenge Sep 4, 2021
2019–2021, straight
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
HELPING U BBQ at 24th Annual State BBQ Championship of Nebraska Aug 5, 2016
won it with 687.4056
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
SMOKIN' LEFTY'S BBQ at Septemberfest BBQ & Rib-eye Steak Cookoff Challenge Sep 2, 2017
the title finally came in 2017
Proof it is worth going back. Every team here cooked for years before the call finally came.
IOWA'S SMOKEY D'S BBQ Jul 11, 2025
2014 → 2025 · 3 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
DIRT ROAD BBQ Sep 4, 2021
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.
PORKY BUTTS BBQ Aug 13, 2021
across all four meats
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
PORKY BUTTS BBQ Aug 26, 2016
the 2016 season
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
DIRT ROAD BBQ Sep 4, 2021
in 2 different meats · first in 2019
A 180 means all six judges handed back a nine for appearance, taste and tenderness. These teams have collected them.
LC BBQ at Central Plains Ribfest Day 2 Jun 19, 2021
Chicken, Pork Ribs
One perfect card is a story worth retelling. Two before the awards ceremony is a record.
LC BBQ Jun 19, 2021
the 2021 season
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
LC BBQ at Central Plains Ribfest Day 2 Jun 19, 2021
first in 2021 · 1 contests to complete the set
Held jointly by 6 — 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.
PHAT JACKS BBQ NE at 21st Annual State Barbeque Championship of Nebraska Aug 16, 2013
Chicken · Aug 16, 2013
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
Central Plains Ribfest Day 2 Jun 19, 2021
shared by 4 teams in a field of 36
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.
WHEN PIGS DIE Sep 25, 2026
2013 → 2026
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
WHEN PIGS DIE Sep 25, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 56 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.
HELPING U BBQ Jan 30, 2026
50 contests, 2013 → 2026
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
PORKY BUTTS 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.
PORKY BUTTS BBQ Aug 30, 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.
WHEN PIGS DIE Jul 11, 2025
from 52 contests
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
DIRT ROAD BBQ Sep 4, 2021
23 from 25 contests
Consistency, stated as a percentage. Turn up, and this is how often you were still standing at the end.
SMOKIN K at Central Plains Ribfest Jun 17, 2022
2017 → 2022 · won it 1×
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.
24th Annual State BBQ Championship of Nebraska Aug 5, 2016
won with 687.4056
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
Central Plains Ribfest Jun 17, 2022
2017 → 2022 · about 30 teams a year
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
RiverFest Red White and Que Jul 15, 2016
4 editions · biggest 45
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
Central Plains Ribfest Jun 17, 2022
from 4 editions with a champion on file
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
Central Plains Ribfest Jun 16, 2017
in a field of 27 · won with 689.7028
Out of 720 points, this many teams finished inside ONE of the leader. Any of them could have won it with a better garnish.
9th Annual Valley Veterans BBQ Competition May 28, 2021
46 teams cooking for it
What was actually on the table. Listed purses only — KCBS does not publish who took home which slice of it.
May 30, 2021 May 30, 2021
across 1 states and provinces
One Saturday, this many contests, every one of them lighting a fire at the same hour.
The 2014 season Sep 26, 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.
Bunny Tuttle Jul 10, 2026
2019 → 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.
Bunny Tuttle May 30, 2021
the 2021 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Bunny Tuttle Jul 11, 2025
at 6 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 |
|---|---|
| SMOKIN' OUTLAWS | 1 |
| Bocephus BBQ | 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 | 2,310 | 161.60 | 177.40 | 12 | 5.2 |
| Pork Ribs | 2,403 | 162.99 | 176.56 | 9 | 3.7 |
| Pork | 2,312 | 163.83 | 177.68 | 12 | 5.2 |
| Chicken | 2,329 | 164.15 | 177.34 | 10 | 4.3 |
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.