53 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 174 scored contests and 28,136 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 VA record book — every record below counts only contests held in VA. 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.
SWIG-N-PIG at Chillin & Grillin in the Glades Jul 19, 2024
31-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
K-10 BBQ at BBQ Gives Back (Day 2) (Masters and Backyard) Mar 22, 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.
THE BBQ GURU at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour (Regional) Aug 25, 2017
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.
PAVONE BROTHERS BBQ at Shenandoah Valley BBQ Fest Oct 17, 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.
SAUCED! BBQ TEAM at Smoke on the Mountain - VA State BBQ Championship Jul 17, 2015
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.
CHECKERED PIG at Black Dog Music and Que Festival Sep 12, 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.
REDNECK SCIENTIFIC at Americamps BBQ Masters Throwdown Day 1 Aug 11, 2023
finished 2nd, behind UNDER THE RADAR
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
HOLLYWOOD N SWINE at Blue Ridge BBQ and Music Festival Aug 23, 2013
and still beat 27 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.
Americamps BBQ Masters Throwdown Day 1 Aug 11, 2023
28 teams · won with 710.2628
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
Zom-B-Q (Day 2) Oct 28, 2023
17 teams · top score 705.1316
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
BBQ Jamboree May 10, 2013
59 teams · even the win only took 662.2854
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
Off The Rack BBQ Oct 26, 2024
24 contests · best 703.4516
Anyone can catch one good day. This is the highest anybody has averaged across a real career.
REDNECK SCIENTIFIC at Boydton's Big Bad BBQ Aug 26, 2016
over 412Q
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
CHECKERED FLAG 500 BBQ at 8th Annual Covington Cork & Pork Festival Jun 21, 2019
over 3N1 Q
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.
WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ Aug 10, 2024
from 103 contests · first in 2017
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ Apr 25, 2025
from 103 contests · 9 titles
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
Ham Squad Mar 23, 2024
across 22 contests, still waiting
The cruellest record in the book. Every team here has stood on the stage second, and never once first.
CHECKERED FLAG 500 BBQ Jun 2, 2023
8 titles from 39 contests
Winning often matters more than winning a lot. This is how often a team turns up and takes the whole thing.
Uncle Pig's Barbeque Pit Sep 30, 2022
the 2022 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.
3 EYZ BBQ Mar 28, 2026
8 titles in all
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ at BBQ Gives Back (Day 2) Mar 27, 2021
won 2017–2021
The contest a team has made their own — turning up every year and taking it home again.
CHIX, SWINE & BOVINE BBQ at Black Dog Music and Que Festival Sep 12, 2014
2013–2014, straight
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
WHO CARES BBQ at BBQ Gives Back Mar 23, 2018
won it with 694.2972
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
Uncle Dubby's Backyard BBQ at Page County Heritage Festival - Backyard BBQ (BACKYARD ONLY) Oct 11, 2025
the title finally came in 2025
Proof it is worth going back. Every team here cooked for years before the call finally came.
3 EYZ BBQ Mar 28, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 8 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
Uncle Pig's Barbeque Pit Apr 26, 2025
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.
WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ Aug 9, 2025
across all four meats
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
3N1 Q Oct 12, 2018
the 2018 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.
WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ Aug 8, 2025
in 3 different meats · first in 2019
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.
Uncle Pig's Barbeque Pit at Chillin & Grillin in the Glades Jul 15, 2022
Brisket, Pork
Held jointly by 5 — nobody has beaten it.
One perfect card is a story worth retelling. Two before the awards ceremony is a record.
Uncle Pig's Barbeque Pit Sep 30, 2022
the 2022 season
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
SMOKECRAFT - MD at Americamps BBQ Throwdown (ONE MEAT RIBS) Aug 9, 2024
first in 2021 · 83 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.
CHECKERED PIG at Black Dog Music and Que Festival Sep 12, 2014
Brisket · Sep 12, 2014
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
BBQ Gives Back (Day 1) (Masters and Backyard) Mar 24, 2023
shared by 8 teams in a field of 53
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.
WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ Aug 21, 2026
2013 → 2026
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ Aug 21, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 123 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.
WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ Aug 21, 2026
123 contests, 2013 → 2026
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
FRED VEGAS SMOKERS Dec 31, 2026
2013 → 2026, no gaps
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
An unbroken run. Every single year, the rig came back out of the shed.
Optimus Swine Oct 28, 2023
the 2023 season · 2 titles
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ Apr 24, 2026
from 103 contests
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
POOR BOYS BBQ Aug 21, 2026
27 from 32 contests
Consistency, stated as a percentage. Turn up, and this is how often you were still standing at the end.
WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ at BBQ Gives Back (Day 2) Mar 28, 2026
2017 → 2026 · won it 3×
Held jointly by 4 — 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.
BBQ Gives Back Mar 23, 2018
won with 694.2972
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
BBQ Gives Back (Day 2) Mar 28, 2026
2017 → 2026 · about 40 teams a year
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
BBQ Jamboree Jun 11, 2021
7 editions · biggest 72
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
BBQ Gives Back (Day 2) Mar 28, 2026
from 20 editions with a champion on file
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
Smoke on the Mountain - VA State BBQ Championship Jul 18, 2014
in a field of 30 · won with 673.1200
Out of 720 points, this many teams finished inside ONE of the leader. Any of them could have won it with a better garnish.
8th Annual Covington Cork & Pork Festival Jun 21, 2019
32 teams cooking for it
What was actually on the table. Listed purses only — KCBS does not publish who took home which slice of it.
Mar 25, 2022 Mar 25, 2022
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 5, 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.
Alex Jr Brown Jul 16, 2027
2019 → 2027
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Alex Jr Brown Oct 3, 2025
the 2025 season
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Alex Jr Brown Aug 21, 2026
at 58 contests
How many separate teams have taken a Grand Championship at a contest this rep was running.
| Team | GCs this season |
|---|---|
| BROCK'S BBQ | 2 |
| Pinky Out BBQ | 2 |
| B'S QUE | 2 |
| TWISTED PAIR BBQ | 1 |
| Rough Cut Q | 1 |
| OLD VIRGINIA SMOKE | 1 |
| 3 EYZ 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 | 4,577 | 161.85 | 176.46 | 34 | 7.4 |
| Pork Ribs | 5,772 | 163.56 | 176.20 | 24 | 4.2 |
| Pork | 5,058 | 163.61 | 176.27 | 26 | 5.1 |
| Chicken | 5,772 | 165.25 | 177.34 | 61 | 10.6 |
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.