High-water mark
684.4916
career-best overall
95.1% of a perfect 720
Their best day on record: 684.4916 at American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Invitational Contest — 95.1% of a perfect 720.
- Master
- Nov 5, 2025
Smoking Wizard
Smoking Wizard is a competition barbecue team with 5 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2023 and 2025. They have won 1 Grand Championship, at the NSDDF presents the Inaugural Baylor Backyard BBQ Bash (BACKYARD ONLY) (2024).
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1525
Unranked — needs 5 rated contests, has 31 invitational or side-series contest not counted
Contests
5
in the data
First seen
Sep 8, 2023
latest Nov 5, 2025 · 2.2 years on the trail
Grand champs
1
0 reserve · wins it all 20% of the time
Category wins
1
2 podiums
Overall top-10s
1
20% of 5 contests
Avg finish
top 37%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
40%
contests with a top-10 call
Best single call
176.5828
Consistency
±4.66
spread of their Master overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Chicken
avg 174 · weakest Brisket (166.06)
Road miles
646
across 5 mapped stops · furthest 631 mi
Schedule strength
26%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1536)
Purse competed for
$141K
listed at 4 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 2 state-championship entries
Master avg
678.77 / 720
3 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
347.43 / 360
1 Backyard contest · 1 GC
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 Smoking Wizard, each with one reason worth a look.
Smoking Wizard 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 79 rated teams sit within a point of it.
#2,339 of the rated field
- Contests
- 17
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 12%
- Peak
- 1525
1–0 in 1 shared contest (100% to Smoking Wizard)
One contest in common so far: too few to settle anything, but a team Smoking Wizard has actually stood beside rather than a stranger on the same rating.
⚔ Head-to-head#2,342 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1525
Careers of much the same size, 7 contests to 5, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#2,329 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 40%
- Peak
- 1525
Their last contest in the data was back in 2021, 4 years before Smoking Wizard's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#2,328 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1526
They were already cooking in 2013, 10 years before Smoking Wizard's first contest.
⚔ Compare careers#2,351 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 33%
- Peak
- 1525
Level with Smoking Wizard on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#2,338 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 33%
- Peak
- 1530
Their last contest in the data was back in 2016, 9 years before Smoking Wizard'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 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 176.5828 | 171.9772 | 174 | top 27% |
| Pork Ribs | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 176.5716 | 163.9544 | 170.84 | top 35% |
| Pork | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 169.6800 | 167.9772 | 168.73 | top 57% |
| Brisket | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 171.9772 | 160.5028 | 166.06 | top 53% |
“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 | 1 | top 10% |
| Large (40+) | 3 | 0 | top 47% |
More numbers
Busiest season
2025
3 contests
Contests a season
1.7
across 3 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
KS
3 of 5 contests · 2 states in all
Contests visited
4
a different one every time
First title
Jul 12, 2024
NSDDF presents the Inaugural Baylor Backyard BBQ Bash (BACKYARD ONLY)
Opponents faced
487
finished ahead 348 times, behind 316
Longest layoff
1.3 yrs
Jul 12, 2024 → Nov 5, 2025
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20253 milestones
- Career-best overall score684.4916 American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Invitational Contest
- Peak power rating (1525) American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Open Contest
- Most recent contest American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Sides
20245 milestones
- First category win (Chicken) NSDDF presents the Inaugural Baylor Backyard BBQ Bash (BACKYARD ONLY)
- First overall top-10 NSDDF presents the Inaugural Baylor Backyard BBQ Bash (BACKYARD ONLY)
- First overall podium NSDDF presents the Inaugural Baylor Backyard BBQ Bash (BACKYARD ONLY)
- First Grand Championship NSDDF presents the Inaugural Baylor Backyard BBQ Bash (BACKYARD ONLY)
- Career-best single call (Chicken)176.5828 NSDDF presents the Inaugural Baylor Backyard BBQ Bash (BACKYARD ONLY)
20233 milestones
- First tracked contest Navy SEAL Danny Dietz Memorial Classic Cookoff
- First call Navy SEAL Danny Dietz Memorial Classic Cookoff
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score673.0744 Navy SEAL Danny Dietz Memorial Classic Cookoff
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +15.8 | NSDDF presents the Inaugural Baylor Backyard BBQ Bash (BACKYARD ONLY) | Jul 12, 2024 |
| +6.3 | Navy SEAL Danny Dietz Memorial Classic Cookoff | Sep 8, 2023 |
| +2.9 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Open Contest | Nov 5, 2025 |
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 53% | 95.1% | 94.7% |
| 2024 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 100% | top 10% | 96.5% | 96.5% |
| 2023 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% | top 33% | 93.5% | 93.5% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 5, 2025 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Sides Kansas City, KS | — | — | — | — | — |
| Nov 5, 2025 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Open Contest 🏅 Kansas City, KS | 195 / 401 (678.7316) | 159 (171.9772) | 26 (176.5716) | 200 (169.6800) | 324 (160.5028) |
| Nov 5, 2025 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Invitational Contest unrated Kansas City, KS | 91 / 158 (684.4916) | 80 (172) | 76 (171.9888) | 115 (168.5256) | 55 (171.9772) |
| Jul 12, 2024 | NSDDF presents the Inaugural Baylor Backyard BBQ Bash (BACKYARD ONLY) Tomball, TX | 1 / 10 (347.4284) | 1 (176.5828) | 2 (170.8456) | — | — |
| Sep 8, 2023 | Navy SEAL Danny Dietz Memorial Classic Cookoff 🏅 Waller, TX | 33 / 99 (673.0744) | 6 (175.4400) | 66 (163.9544) | 47 (167.9772) | 42 (165.7028) |
An unrated contest — an invitational, or a Competitor or Kosher Series board — is in the record but doesn’t move the power rating.