53 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 87 scored contests and 23,650 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 TX record book — every record below counts only contests held in TX. 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.
Crossed Rifles BBQ at Raider Red Meats BBQ & Ribeye Championships Aug 18, 2023
48-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
Kiss My Rack-3 at Mark Marley's Go Big or Go Home BBQ Bash (DAY 1) May 10, 2019
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.
IOWA'S SMOKEY D'S BBQ at BBQ Battle Royale at Taste of Dallas Jun 13, 2015
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.
She Thinks My Slabs R Sexy at City of Bedford Blues & BBQ Festival Aug 31, 2013
won the category with it
Held jointly by 8 — 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.
Smokin Hot J's at Cedar Fest BBQ Apr 1, 2016
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.
KILLER HOGS at NBBQA BBQ Bash Cook Off Mar 7, 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.
TCB BBQ at Raider Red Meats BBQ & Ribeye Championships Aug 18, 2023
finished 2nd, behind Crossed Rifles BBQ
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
C-N-B BBQ at Bynum Schools Best of the Basin BBQ Championship Apr 25, 2014
and still beat 61 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.
Raider Red Meats BBQ & Ribeye Championship Aug 21, 2026
51 teams · won with 706.2628
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
McGregor Lions Club Barrels & BBQ (Day 2) Nov 21, 2020
25 teams · top score 695.9428
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
Humble BBQ Cook Off Jan 29, 2021
113 teams · even the win only took 679.3140
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
Rio Valley Meat BBQ Sep 12, 2025
21 contests · best 707.9884
Anyone can catch one good day. This is the highest anybody has averaged across a real career.
Bad Boyz BBQ at Bliss, Brews & Que Oct 10, 2014
over SMOKIN TRIGGERS
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
LC BBQ at Mark Marley's Go Big or Go Home BBQ Bash (DAY 1) May 14, 2021
over CHICKEN FRIED BBQ
A whole weekend — four meats, twenty-four judging cards — decided by a rounding error.
Grand Championships, reserve finishes, dynasties and droughts.
BOOMERANG BBQ Nov 20, 2020
from 23 contests · first in 2017
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
FAT BOYS BBQ - TEMPLE, TX Feb 14, 2020
from 28 contests · 2 titles
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
MAN MEAT BBQ May 15, 2021
across 9 contests, still waiting
The cruellest record in the book. Every team here has stood on the stage second, and never once first.
Rollin' Smoke BBQ Texas Aug 15, 2025
2 titles from 26 contests
Winning often matters more than winning a lot. This is how often a team turns up and takes the whole thing.
BUTCHER BBQ Sep 4, 2015
the 2015 season
Held jointly by 6 — nobody has beaten it.
The best year anybody has ever had. Four in a season is a career year; these went past it.
BOOMERANG BBQ Nov 20, 2020
5 titles in all
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
BUTCHER BBQ at City of Bedford Blues & BBQ Festival Sep 4, 2015
won 2013–2015
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
The contest a team has made their own — turning up every year and taking it home again.
THE AMERICAN DREAM BBQ at Bliss Brews & Que Oct 7, 2016
2015–2016, straight
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
BUCKSHOT BBQ - TX at Humble Rodeo and BBQ Feb 2, 2018
won it with 691.9656
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
Texas-car-b-que at Cedar Fest BBQ Cook-Off Apr 5, 2019
the title finally came in 2019
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Proof it is worth going back. Every team here cooked for years before the call finally came.
Rio Valley Meat BBQ Sep 12, 2025
2018 → 2025 · 4 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
Rio Valley Meat BBQ Sep 12, 2025
in 1 state
Held jointly by 2 — 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.
LA PASADITA Apr 10, 2026
across all four meats
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
LA PASADITA Aug 30, 2019
the 2019 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.
BOOMERANG BBQ Aug 15, 2025
in 2 different meats · first in 2017
A 180 means all six judges handed back a nine for appearance, taste and tenderness. These teams have collected them.
TINY E BBQ at Shotgun Fred BBQ Showdown Feb 15, 2019
Chicken, Pork
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
One perfect card is a story worth retelling. Two before the awards ceremony is a record.
Rio Valley Meat BBQ May 11, 2019
the 2019 season
Held jointly by 5 — nobody has beaten it.
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
LA PASADITA at Cedar Fest BBQ Cook Off Apr 10, 2026
first in 2023 · 24 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.
She Thinks My Slabs R Sexy at City of Bedford Blues & BBQ Festival Aug 31, 2013
Pork Ribs · Aug 31, 2013
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
Raider Red Meats BBQ & Ribeye Championships Aug 18, 2023
shared by 7 teams in a field of 48
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.
LA PASADITA Sep 11, 2026
2014 → 2026
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
S&S Pit Crew Sep 11, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 15 contests
Rigs wear out and cooks retire. These teams were still turning in boxes more than a decade after their first one.
LA PASADITA Sep 11, 2026
47 contests, 2014 → 2026
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
LA PASADITA Dec 31, 2026
2014 → 2026, no gaps
An unbroken run. Every single year, the rig came back out of the shed.
LA PASADITA Nov 15, 2019
the 2019 season · 1 title
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
LA PASADITA Apr 10, 2026
from 47 contests
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
FAT BOYS BBQ - TEMPLE, TX Apr 1, 2022
17 from 28 contests
Consistency, stated as a percentage. Turn up, and this is how often you were still standing at the end.
LA PASADITA at Cedar Fest BBQ Cook Off Apr 10, 2026
2014 → 2026
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.
Humble Rodeo and BBQ Feb 2, 2018
won with 691.9656
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
Shotgun Fred BBQ Showdown Feb 14, 2020
2014 → 2020 · about 42 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.
Navy SEAL Danny Dietz Memorial Classic Cookoff Sep 12, 2025
3 editions · biggest 99
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
Cedar Fest BBQ Cook Off Apr 10, 2026
from 7 editions with a champion on file
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
Raider Red Meats BBQ & Ribeye Championship Aug 21, 2026
in a field of 51 · won with 706.2628
Out of 720 points, this many teams finished inside ONE of the leader. Any of them could have won it with a better garnish.
Navy SEAL Danny Dietz Memorial Classic Cookoff Sep 13, 2024
67 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.
Mar 8, 2013 Mar 8, 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 2016 season Dec 10, 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.
Terri McKinnon Nov 5, 2024
2019 → 2024
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Bob McKinnon Oct 7, 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.
Bob McKinnon Nov 5, 2024
at 22 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 |
|---|---|
| POP A TOP COOKERS | 1 |
| TINY E BBQ | 1 |
| PS I LOVE YOU 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 | 4,280 | 156.79 | 176.03 | 16 | 3.7 |
| Pork Ribs | 4,291 | 159.43 | 176.97 | 9 | 2.1 |
| Chicken | 3,840 | 160.65 | 176.79 | 20 | 5.2 |
| Pork | 3,771 | 160.86 | 177.77 | 26 | 6.9 |
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.