14 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 2 scored contests and 41 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 PZ record book — every record below counts only contests held in PZ. 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.
Smoking Butcher at Grill Contest Rivergaro (ONE MEAT CHICKEN) May 3, 2026
won the category with 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.
Average Joe BBQ Team at Grill Contest Rivergaro (ONE MEAT RIBS) May 3, 2026
won the category with 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.
The four meats: who wins them, and who has been handed a flawless card.
Average Joe BBQ Team May 3, 2026
across 1 of the 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.
Average Joe BBQ Team May 3, 2026
the 2026 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.
Longevity — the teams who keep turning up, and keep turning it in.
Average Joe BBQ Team May 3, 2026
2026 → 2026
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
Average Joe BBQ Team May 3, 2026
2 contests, 2026 → 2026
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
Average Joe BBQ Team May 3, 2026
the 2026 season
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
Records held by the contests themselves rather than by the teams.
Grill Contest Rivergaro (ONE MEAT CHICKEN) May 3, 2026
won with 179.4400
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
Grill Contest Rivergaro (ONE MEAT CHICKEN) May 3, 2026
2026 → 2026 · about 15 teams a year
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
May 3, 2026 May 3, 2026
across 1 states and provinces
One Saturday, this many contests, every one of them lighting a fire at the same hour.
The 2026 season May 3, 2026
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.
Haymo Gutweniger May 3, 2026
2026 → 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.
Haymo Gutweniger May 3, 2026
the 2026 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Haymo Gutweniger May 3, 2026
at 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken toughest room | 15 | 163.40 | 179.44 | 0 | 0 |
| Pork Ribs | 15 | 164.81 | 176.57 | 0 | 0 |
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.