High-water mark
681.7144
career-best overall
94.7% of a perfect 720
Their best day on record: 681.7144 at Western Legends BBQ Contest — 94.7% of a perfect 720.
- Master
- Aug 20, 2021
Primal-Q
Primal-Q is a competition barbecue team with 5 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2017 and 2023. Their best overall finish is 4th of 26 at the Western Legends BBQ Contest (2021). They are ranked #2663 of 6,476 teams in the KCBS power rankings. Also listed in KCBS results as “Primal Q”.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1514
peak 1516 · rated over 5 contests
Contests
5
in the data
First seen
Aug 18, 2017
latest Jan 13, 2023 · 5.4 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
1
2 podiums
Overall top-10s
1
20% of 5 contests
Avg finish
top 53%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
60%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±16.34
spread of their Master overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Pork
avg 170.42 · weakest Brisket (160.41)
Road miles
1,479
across 5 mapped stops · furthest 1,005 mi
Schedule strength
70%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1588)
Purse competed for
$48K
listed at 4 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 4 state-championship entries
Master avg
660.16 / 720
5 Master contests · 0 GCs
Team of the Year (rank per category by season — the year links to the full board on kcbs.us)
| Year | Series | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 ↗ | Master | #1116 (95 pts) | #1319 (60 pts) | #843 (210 pts) | #1159 (95 pts) | #1296 (60 pts) |
| 2022 ↗ | Master | #1105 (111 pts) | #1170 (106 pts) | #1088 (126 pts) | #684 (276 pts) | #1187 (96 pts) |
| 2021 ↗ | Master | #709 (201 pts) | #820 (176 pts) | #872 (166 pts) | #693 (226 pts) | #1090 (101 pts) |
Overall rank by season
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to Primal-Q, each with one reason worth a look.
97 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
#2,655 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 1
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1521
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 5, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#2,654 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 40%
- Peak
- 1519
They turned up 6 years after Primal-Q did, first appearing in 2023.
⚔ Compare careers#2,661 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1514
Level with Primal-Q on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#2,673 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1514
Their last contest in the data was back in 2020, 3 years before Primal-Q's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#2,664 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1521
Their last contest in the data was back in 2016, 7 years before Primal-Q's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#2,653 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 17%
- Peak
- 1514
Careers of much the same size, 6 contests to 5, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careersBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 177.1772 | 149.0968 | 161.80 | top 64% |
| Pork Ribs | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 171.9772 | 160.5488 | 167.53 | top 34% |
| Pork | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 178.2972 | 161.1428 | 170.42 | top 34% |
| Brisket | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 163.9428 | 155.9544 | 160.41 | top 65% |
“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) | 3 | 0 | top 51% |
| Large (40+) | 2 | 0 | top 56% |
Repeat visits (contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Legends BBQ Contest | 2 | 4 | 0 | top 51% | Sep 9, 2022 |
More numbers
Busiest season
2022
2 contests
Contests a season
1.3
across 4 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
UT
2 of 5 contests · 4 states in all
Contests visited
4
1 of them more than once
Opponents faced
151
finished ahead 84 times, behind 104
Longest layoff
4 yrs
Aug 18, 2017 → Aug 20, 2021
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20231 milestone
- Most recent contest Slab-O-Rama Barbeque Challenge
20223 milestones
- First category win (Pork) Best Dam Barbeque
- Career-best single call (Pork)178.2972 Best Dam Barbeque
- Peak power rating (1516) Best Dam Barbeque
20214 milestones
- First call Western Legends BBQ Contest
- First overall top-10 Western Legends BBQ Contest
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score681.7144 Western Legends BBQ Contest
- Career-best overall score681.7144 Western Legends BBQ Contest
20171 milestone
- First tracked contest BBQ and Fly In on the River
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +15.5 | Western Legends BBQ Contest | Aug 20, 2021 |
| +6.4 | Slab-O-Rama Barbeque Challenge | Jan 13, 2023 |
| +3.1 | Best Dam Barbeque | May 27, 2022 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -8.2 | Western Legends BBQ Contest | Sep 9, 2022 |
| -2.7 | BBQ and Fly In on the River | Aug 18, 2017 |
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% | top 40% | 93.3% | 93.3% |
| 2022 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 50% | top 69% | 92% | 91.1% |
| 2021 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 15% | 94.7% | 94.7% |
| 2017 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 72% | 88.2% | 88.2% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 13, 2023 | Slab-O-Rama Barbeque Challenge 🏅 Bullhead City, AZ | 18 / 45 (671.9200) | 25 (167.3828) | 4 (171.9772) | 18 (169.7600) | 26 (162.8000) |
| Sep 9, 2022 | Western Legends BBQ Contest 🏅 Kanab, UT | 27 / 31 (649.5884) | 30 (149.0968) | 11 (169.1200) | 14 (169.7144) | 22 (161.6572) |
| May 27, 2022 | Best Dam Barbeque 🏅 Boulder City, NV | 13 / 26 (662.2288) | 14 (165.7028) | 20 (160.5488) | 1 (178.2972) | 16 (157.6800) |
| Aug 20, 2021 | Western Legends BBQ Contest 🏅 Kanab, UT | 4 / 26 (681.7144) | 5 (177.1772) | 6 (167.4172) | 3 (173.1772) | 15 (163.9428) |
| Aug 18, 2017 | BBQ and Fly In on the River Excelsior Springs, MO | 47 / 65 (635.3372) | 63 (149.6456) | 18 (168.5944) | 44 (161.1428) | 49 (155.9544) |