53 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 79 scored contests and 17,519 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 NY record book — every record below counts only contests held in NY. 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.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA at Grand American Barbecue New York State Championship Open (OPEN FORMAT) May 2, 2026
59-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
Leaning Jowler BBQ at Catskills Barbeque - Backyard Competition (Day 2) Jun 7, 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.
BIG RAZ BBQ at Hudson Valley Ribfest Aug 16, 2019
won the category with it
Held jointly by 6 — 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.
Leaning Jowler BBQ at Catskills Barbeque - Backyard Competition (Day 2) Jun 7, 2025
won the category with it
Held jointly by 7 — 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.
MILLER'S BACKYARD BBQ at Hudson Valley Ribfest Aug 17, 2018
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.
HAWG DOCTORS at Roc City Rib Fest May 25, 2013
won the category with it
Held jointly by 4 — 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.
CHUNKY BBQ at Grand American Barbecue New York State Championship (Open) Aug 2, 2025
finished 2nd, behind Gettin' Basted
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
FEEDING FRIENDZ at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Aug 9, 2013
and still beat 26 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.
Grand American Barbecue New York State Championship (Open) Aug 2, 2025
47 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.
Frog Alley Brew-B-Que Cookoff Jun 21, 2025
18 teams · top score 703.9428
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
Rotary Ribs and Rhythm & Blues Jul 15, 2017
25 teams · even the win only took 683.9544
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA May 2, 2026
36 contests · best 712.5828
Anyone can catch one good day. This is the highest anybody has averaged across a real career.
SHORTSVILLE SMOKERS at BBQ in The Valley May 4, 2018
over Priorville BBQ
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
SMOKIN BOYS AND HOT GRILLS at Hudson Valley Ribfest Aug 19, 2016
over ACK-QUE
A whole weekend — four meats, twenty-four judging cards — decided by a rounding error.
Grand Championships, reserve finishes, dynasties and droughts.
GOOD SMOKE BBQ Jul 21, 2018
from 45 contests · first in 2013
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA Jul 6, 2018
from 39 contests · 8 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.
BOGGS HOG BBQ May 2, 2026
across 9 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.
GOOD SMOKE BBQ Sep 21, 2019
12 titles from 45 contests
Winning often matters more than winning a lot. This is how often a team turns up and takes the whole thing.
GOOD SMOKE BBQ Aug 9, 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.
GOOD SMOKE BBQ Jul 21, 2018
12 titles in all
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
GOOD SMOKE BBQ at Smokin' Eagles International BBQ Festival Aug 8, 2014
won 2013–2014
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
The contest a team has made their own — turning up every year and taking it home again.
GOOD SMOKE BBQ at Smokin' Eagles International BBQ Festival Aug 8, 2014
2013–2014, straight
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
Priorville at Roc City Rib Fest May 24, 2014
won it with 687.9996
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
SHORTSVILLE SMOKERS at The Great Adirondack BBQ Jul 28, 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 HOGGZ BBQ - MA May 2, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 8 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA May 2, 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.
GOOD SMOKE BBQ Sep 21, 2019
across all four meats
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
GOOD SMOKE BBQ Aug 8, 2014
the 2014 season
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
Leaning Jowler BBQ Jun 7, 2025
in 3 different meats · first in 2025
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.
Leaning Jowler BBQ at Catskills Barbeque - Backyard Competition (Day 2) Jun 7, 2025
Chicken, Pork, Pork Ribs
One perfect card is a story worth retelling. Two before the awards ceremony is a record.
Leaning Jowler BBQ Jun 7, 2025
the 2025 season
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
Leaning Jowler BBQ at Catskills Barbeque - Backyard Competition (Day 2) Jun 7, 2025
first in 2025 · 1 contests to complete the set
Held jointly by 2 — 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.
HAWG DOCTORS at Roc City Rib Fest May 25, 2013
Brisket · May 25, 2013
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
Grand American Barbecue World Championship Invitational (COMPETITOR SERIES) May 1, 2026
shared by 5 teams in a field of 43
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.
GOOD SMOKE BBQ Sep 21, 2019
2013 → 2019
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA May 2, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 39 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 HOGGZ BBQ - MA May 2, 2026
39 contests, 2013 → 2026
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
SMOKIN BOYS AND HOT GRILLS 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.
GOOD SMOKE BBQ Sep 20, 2013
the 2013 season · 3 titles
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
GOOD SMOKE BBQ Sep 21, 2019
from 45 contests
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
GOOD SMOKE BBQ Sep 21, 2019
41 from 45 contests
Consistency, stated as a percentage. Turn up, and this is how often you were still standing at the end.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA at I Love Barbecue & Music Festival Sep 1, 2023
2014 → 2023 · won it 1×
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.
Roc City Rib Fest May 24, 2014
won with 687.9996
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
I Love Barbecue & Music Festival Sep 1, 2023
2013 → 2023 · about 28 teams a year
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
Oinktoberfest Sep 21, 2019
6 editions · biggest 71
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
I Love Barbecue & Music Festival Sep 1, 2023
from 10 editions with a champion on file
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
I Love Barbecue & Music Festival (Masters) (JUDGING FULL) Sep 2, 2022
in a field of 22 · won with 679.4060
Out of 720 points, this many teams finished inside ONE of the leader. Any of them could have won it with a better garnish.
Grand American Barbecue World Championship (Invitational) (COMPETITOR SERIES) Aug 1, 2025
34 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 1, 2026 May 1, 2026
across 1 states and provinces
One Saturday, this many contests, every one of them lighting a fire at the same hour.
The 2016 season Sep 25, 2016
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.
Jeff Chambers Sep 18, 2027
2023 → 2027
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Jeff Chambers Aug 2, 2025
the 2025 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Bill Wright May 2, 2026
at 8 contests
How many separate teams have taken a Grand Championship at a contest this rep was running.
| Team | GCs this season |
|---|---|
| SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA | 1 |
| Rough Cut Q | 1 |
| CHUNKY 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 | 2,700 | 155.88 | 174.51 | 4 | 1.5 |
| Pork Ribs | 2,754 | 158.06 | 174.13 | 7 | 2.5 |
| Pork | 2,708 | 158.19 | 174.29 | 7 | 2.6 |
| Chicken | 2,744 | 160.27 | 175.24 | 7 | 2.6 |
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.