Giant slayer
39
teams beaten in one weekend
Took the Grand Championship over a 39-team field at Smoke on the Plains Derby BBQ & Music Fest.
- Jun 7, 2019
Sugar Hounds
Sugar Hounds is a competition barbecue team with 6 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2019 and 2026. They have won 2 Grand Championships, most recently at the Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest (2025). They are ranked #1719 of 6,476 teams in the KCBS power rankings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1551
peak 1551 · rated over 6 contests
Contests
6
in the data
First seen
Jun 7, 2019
latest Jun 12, 2026 · 7 years on the trail
Grand champs
2
0 reserve · wins it all 33% of the time
Category wins
2
3 podiums
Overall top-10s
4
67% of 6 contests
Best top-10 run
2
straight overall top-10s
Avg finish
top 26%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
83%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±4.57
spread of their Backyard overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Pork Ribs
avg 171.03 · weakest Brisket (165.68)
Road miles
70
across 6 mapped stops
Schedule strength
55%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1571)
Purse competed for
$75K
listed at 6 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
2 🏅
won from 6 state-championship entries
Master avg
667.29 / 720
1 Master contest · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
342.14 / 360
5 Backyard contests · 2 GCs
These overall scores sit on different scales (Master out of 720, Backyard out of 360), so they're kept separate — averaging them together would be misleading.
This team cooks the Backyard series — its own boards, records and Team of the Year are here.
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to Sugar Hounds, each with one reason worth a look.
66 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
#1,726 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 83%
- Peak
- 1551
Careers of much the same size, 6 contests to 6, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#1,720 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 33%
- Peak
- 1551
Level with Sugar Hounds on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#1,713 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 50%
- Peak
- 1553
Careers of much the same size, 6 contests to 6, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#1,715 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 33%
- Peak
- 1551
Their last contest in the data was back in 2015, 11 years before Sugar Hounds's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#1,723 of the rated field
- Contests
- 10
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 10%
- Peak
- 1551
Their last contest in the data was back in 2023, 3 years before Sugar Hounds's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#1,730 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 60%
- Peak
- 1551
Their last contest in the data was back in 2023, 3 years before Sugar Hounds's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careersFamiliar foes (most-met opponents in overall standings — one meeting per contest)
| Opponent | Meetings | Ahead | Behind | Win rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALWAYS SAUCED | 5 | 5 | 0 | 100% | ⚔ compare |
| Sixkiller BBQ | 5 | 5 | 0 | 100% | ⚔ compare |
| MAN MEAT BBQ | 5 | 3 | 2 | 60% | ⚔ compare |
| WOOD HOOK BBQ | 5 | 3 | 2 | 60% | ⚔ compare |
| HOLLOW Q | 5 | 1 | 3 | 20% | ⚔ compare |
By meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 6 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 171.4172 | 163.9544 | 169.21 | top 29% |
| Pork Ribs | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 178.8572 | 163.9772 | 171.03 | top 27% |
| Pork | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 170.8344 | 170.8344 | 170.83 | top 57% |
| Brisket | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 165.6800 | 165.6800 | 165.68 | top 76% |
“Calls” = top-10 category finishes (getting called to the stage). Scores here are the final weighted totals KCBS publishes; per-criterion appearance/taste/tenderness marks aren’t in the public results feed.
By field size and state
By contest size
| Field | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medium (20–39) | 5 | 2 | top 27% |
| Large (40+) | 1 | 0 | top 23% |
Repeat visits (contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest | 2 | 1 | 1 | top 13% | Jun 13, 2025 |
| Smoke on the Plains Derby BBQ & Music Fest | 2 | 1 | 1 | top 12% | Jun 10, 2022 |
More numbers
Busiest season
2022
2 contests
Contests a season
1.2
across 5 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
KS
6 of 6 contests
Contests visited
4
2 of them more than once
First title
Jun 7, 2019
Smoke on the Plains Derby BBQ & Music Fest
Opponents faced
170
finished ahead 218 times, behind 63
Longest layoff
3 yrs
Jun 7, 2019 → Jun 10, 2022
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20262 milestones
- Peak power rating (1551) Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest
- Most recent contest Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest
20221 milestone
- Career-best overall score667.2916 Sand Creek Summer Daze Saucy & Glazed BBQ Competition
201910 milestones
- First tracked contest Smoke on the Plains Derby BBQ & Music Fest
- First call Smoke on the Plains Derby BBQ & Music Fest
- First category win (Pork Ribs) Smoke on the Plains Derby BBQ & Music Fest
- First overall top-10 Smoke on the Plains Derby BBQ & Music Fest
- First overall podium Smoke on the Plains Derby BBQ & Music Fest
- First Grand Championship Smoke on the Plains Derby BBQ & Music Fest
- First state championship Smoke on the Plains Derby BBQ & Music Fest
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score347.9888 Smoke on the Plains Derby BBQ & Music Fest
- Biggest field won (39 teams) Smoke on the Plains Derby BBQ & Music Fest
- Career-best single call (Pork Ribs)178.8572 Smoke on the Plains Derby BBQ & Music Fest
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +17.3 | Smoke on the Plains Derby BBQ & Music Fest | Jun 7, 2019 |
| +16.8 | Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest | Jun 13, 2025 |
| +8.7 | Smoke on the Plains Derby BBQ & Music Fest | Jun 10, 2022 |
| +6.9 | Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest | Jun 7, 2024 |
| +5.5 | Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest | Jun 12, 2026 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -4.2 | Sand Creek Summer Daze Saucy & Glazed BBQ Competition | Jul 8, 2022 |
Scores over time (% of a perfect score — tap a meat to add it)
Overall finish over time (top-% of field, lower is better)
Where they finish (overall)
Best vs average (by meat)
How entries end (by meat)
Season by season
| Season | Contests | GCs | Top-10s | Category wins | Walk rate | Avg finish | Best overall (% of perfect) | Avg overall (% of perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% | top 31% | 94.1% | 94.1% |
| 2025 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 100% | top 3% | 96% | 96% |
| 2024 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 23% | 93.2% | 93.2% |
| 2022 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 50% | top 48% | 95.2% | 94% |
| 2019 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 100% | top 3% | 96.7% | 96.7% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 12, 2026 | Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest 🏅 Derby, KS | 11 / 36 (338.7884) | 12 (169.6684) | 10 (169.1200) | — | — |
| Jun 13, 2025 | Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest 🏅 Derby, KS | 1 / 36 (345.7028) | 7 (169.7028) | 1 (176) | — | — |
| Jun 7, 2024 | Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest 🏅 Derby, KS | 10 / 43 (335.3828) | 7 (171.4056) | 12 (163.9772) | — | — |
| Jul 8, 2022 | Sand Creek Summer Daze Saucy & Glazed BBQ Competition 🏅 Newton, KS | 16 / 21 (667.2916) | 17 (163.9544) | 18 (166.8228) | 12 (170.8344) | 16 (165.6800) |
| Jun 10, 2022 | Smoke on the Plains Derby BBQ & Music Fest 🏅 Derby, KS | 6 / 29 (342.8344) | 4 (171.4172) | 4 (171.4172) | — | — |
| Jun 7, 2019 | Smoke on the Plains Derby BBQ & Music Fest 🏅 Derby, KS | 1 / 39 (347.9888) | 3 (169.1316) | 1 (178.8572) | — | — |