High-water mark
501.6112
career-best overall
92.9% of a perfect 540
Their best day on record: 501.6112 at Que' For a Cause (BACKYARD) Day 1 — 92.9% of a perfect 540.
- Backyard
- Oct 7, 2022
Firemaster BBQ
Firemaster BBQ is a competition barbecue team with 5 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2021 and 2022. Their best overall finish is 6th of 9 at the Bowling Green Backyard Event (BACKYARD ONLY) ().
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1482
Unranked — needs 5 rated contests, has 31 invitational or side-series contest not counted
Contests
5
in the data
First seen
Mar 12, 2021
latest Nov 12, 2022 · 1.7 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
0 podiums
Overall top-10s
1
20% of 5 contests
Avg finish
top 64%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
60%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±11.44
spread of their Backyard overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Pork Ribs
avg 164.88 · weakest Chicken (162.59)
Road miles
744
across 4 mapped stops · furthest 525 mi
Schedule strength
7%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1510)
Purse competed for
$16K
listed at 4 contests — purses, not winnings
Backyard avg
323.74 / 360
3 Backyard contests · 0 GCs
Backyard (3-meat) avg
497.61 / 540
2 Backyard (3-meat) contests · 0 GCs
These overall scores sit on different scales (Backyard out of 360, Backyard (3-meat) out of 540), 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.
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 ↗ | Backyard | — | #333 (60 pts) | #310 (95 pts) | — | — |
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to Firemaster BBQ, each with one reason worth a look.
Firemaster BBQ has 3 rated contests, short of the five a power ranking needs, so its rating is still close to the 1500 every team starts on and 125 rated teams sit within a point of it.
#4,045 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1482
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 5, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#4,079 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1481
They were already cooking in 2014, 7 years before Firemaster BBQ's first contest.
⚔ Compare careers#4,066 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 17%
- Peak
- 1482
Level with Firemaster BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#4,061 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1482
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 5, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#4,057 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1482
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 5, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#4,051 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1503
Their last contest in the data was back in 2019, 3 years before Firemaster BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careersBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 168 | 158.2288 | 162.59 | top 64% |
| Pork Ribs | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 170.8228 | 147.4172 | 164.88 | top 49% |
| Pork | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 166.2628 | 162.7884 | 164.53 | top 66% |
“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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small (<20 teams) | 1 | 0 | top 67% |
| Medium (20–39) | 3 | 0 | top 65% |
| Large (40+) | 1 | 0 | top 59% |
More numbers
Busiest season
2022
3 contests
Contests a season
1.7
across 3 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
OK
2 of 5 contests · 3 states in all
Contests visited
5
a different one every time
Opponents faced
111
finished ahead 49 times, behind 96
Longest layoff
1.6 yrs
Mar 12, 2021 → Oct 7, 2022
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20224 milestones
- Career-best overall score501.6112 Que' For a Cause (BACKYARD) Day 1
- Career-best single call (Pork Ribs)170.8228 Que' For a Cause (BACKYARD) Day 1
- Peak power rating (1490) Que' For a Cause (BACKYARD) Day 1
- Most recent contest 4th Annual KCBS World Invitational - BACKYARD SERIES INVITATIONAL
20211 milestone
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score328.4916 American Royal Backyard and Steak Contest
—3 milestones
- First tracked contest Bowling Green Backyard Event (BACKYARD ONLY)
- First call Bowling Green Backyard Event (BACKYARD ONLY)
- First overall top-10 Bowling Green Backyard Event (BACKYARD ONLY)
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +0.6 | Que' For a Cause (BACKYARD) Day 1 | Oct 7, 2022 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -10.8 | American Royal Backyard and Steak Contest | Mar 12, 2021 |
| -8.1 | Que' For a Cause (BACKYARD) Day 2 | Oct 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 67% | 85.5% | 85.5% |
| 2022 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33% | top 63% | 93% | 92.4% |
| 2021 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% | top 63% | 91.2% | 91.2% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 12, 2022 | 4th Annual KCBS World Invitational - BACKYARD SERIES INVITATIONAL unrated Gadsden, AL | 29 / 49 (334.7656) | 36 (166.2400) | 18 (168.5256) | — | — |
| Oct 8, 2022 | Que' For a Cause (BACKYARD) Day 2 Tahlequah, OK | 25 / 32 (493.6000) | 30 (159.9428) | 19 (167.3944) | 17 (166.2628) | — |
| Oct 7, 2022 | Que' For a Cause (BACKYARD) Day 1 Tahlequah, OK | 17 / 32 (501.6112) | 13 (168) | 10 (170.8228) | 25 (162.7884) | — |
| Mar 12, 2021 | American Royal Backyard and Steak Contest Kansas City, MO | 15 / 24 (328.4916) | 16 (158.2288) | 7 (170.2628) | — | — |
| — | Bowling Green Backyard Event (BACKYARD ONLY) Bowling Green, MO | 6 / 9 (307.9772) | 4 (160.5600) | 8 (147.4172) | — | — |
An unrated contest — an invitational, or a Competitor or Kosher Series board — is in the record but doesn’t move the power rating.