High-water mark
664.4684
career-best overall
92.3% of a perfect 720
Their best day on record: 664.4684 at 8th Annual Qlathe BBQ Championship — 92.3% of a perfect 720.
- Master
- Mar 20, 2026
Grills Gone Wild
Grills Gone Wild is a competition barbecue team with 17 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2013 and 2026. Their best overall finish is 7th of 26 at the Cherokee Strip BBQ & Chili Cook-Off (2024). They are ranked #5640 of 6,476 teams in the KCBS power rankings. Also listed in KCBS results as “Grills Gone Wild!”.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1447
peak 1447 · rated over 12 contests
Contests
17
in the data
First seen
May 3, 2013
latest Sep 18, 2026 · 13.4 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
0 podiums
Overall top-10s
1
6% of 17 contests
Avg finish
top 73%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Current form
640.01 ▲
last 5 Master vs avg 608.89 (+31.12)
Walk rate
24%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±54.38
spread of their Master overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Pork
avg 160.51 · weakest Brisket (138.81)
Road miles
6,373
across 17 mapped stops · furthest 843 mi
Schedule strength
34%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1546)
Purse competed for
$125K
listed at 8 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 7 state-championship entries
Master avg
608.89 / 720
10 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
331.64 / 360
2 Backyard contests · 0 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.
Team of the Year (rank per category by season — the year links to the full board on kcbs.us)
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to Grills Gone Wild, each with one reason worth a look.
100 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
#5,654 of the rated field
- Contests
- 33
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1447
1–0 in 1 shared contest (100% to Grills Gone Wild)
One contest in common so far: too few to settle anything, but a team Grills Gone Wild has actually stood beside rather than a stranger on the same rating.
⚔ Head-to-head#5,655 of the rated field
- Contests
- 12
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1447
This is the highest they've ever been rated, 12 rated contests in — a team sitting at its own career peak.
⚔ Compare careers#5,638 of the rated field
- Contests
- 12
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1447
Their last contest in the data was back in 2018, 8 years before Grills Gone Wild's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#5,653 of the rated field
- Contests
- 12
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1447
Careers of much the same size, 12 contests to 17, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#5,649 of the rated field
- Contests
- 11
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1447
Both teams' first contest in the data came in 2013.
⚔ Compare careers#5,625 of the rated field
- Contests
- 14
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1448
14 contests and no Grand Championship yet.
⚔ Compare careersBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 171.9656 | 148.5714 | 158.17 | top 68% |
| Pork Ribs | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 169.7944 | 129.1088 | 155.19 | top 68% |
| Pork | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 171.4400 | 147.3944 | 160.51 | top 63% |
| Brisket | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 170.2972 | 20 | 138.81 | top 70% |
“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) | 6 | 0 | top 78% |
| Large (40+) | 6 | 0 | top 68% |
More numbers
Busiest season
2026
3 contests
Contests a season
1.7
across 10 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
KS
4 of 17 contests · 8 states in all
Contests visited
12
a different one every time
Most-entered meat
Pork Ribs
13 entries · 0 wins · 3 calls
Opponents faced
500
finished ahead 151 times, behind 409
Longest layoff
3.2 yrs
May 31, 2019 → Jul 30, 2022
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20262 milestones
- Career-best overall score664.4684 8th Annual Qlathe BBQ Championship
- Most recent contest Cherokee Strip BBQ & Chili Cookoff
20242 milestones
- First overall top-10 Cherokee Strip BBQ & Chili Cook-Off
- Career-best single call (Chicken)171.9656 Cherokee Strip BBQ & Chili Cook-Off
20191 milestone
- 10th tracked contest Up In Smoke on the Square
20142 milestones
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score649.7032 Jesse James Barbeque Cook Out
- First call Smoke on the Water at Lake Shawnee
20132 milestones
- First tracked contest Truman Heritage Festival BBQ Championship
- Peak power rating (1484) Truman Heritage Festival BBQ Championship
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +7.6 | Cherokee Strip BBQ & Chili Cook-Off | Sep 20, 2024 |
| +6.8 | Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest | Jun 7, 2024 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -15.9 | Truman Heritage Festival BBQ Championship | May 3, 2013 |
| -11.9 | Smoke on the Water | Oct 11, 2013 |
| -11.3 | City of Bedford Blues & BBQ Festival | Aug 31, 2013 |
| -9.4 | Smoke on the Water at Lake Shawnee | Oct 10, 2014 |
| -6.9 | Montana BBQ Cookoff | Jun 13, 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 70% | 92.3% | 91.8% |
| 2025 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 88% | 85.4% | 85.4% |
| 2024 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 50% | top 29% | 93.5% | 92.1% |
| 2022 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% | — | — | — |
| 2019 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
| 2018 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
| 2017 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50% | top 88% | 83.8% | 83.8% |
| 2016 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
| 2014 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50% | top 75% | 90.2% | 85.4% |
| 2013 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 94% | 82.5% | 76.8% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 18, 2026 | Cherokee Strip BBQ & Chili Cookoff 🏅 Ponca City, OK | 23 / 30 (660.4232) | 26 (160.5144) | 19 (167.9772) | 17 (170.2628) | 23 (161.6688) |
| Sep 11, 2026 | Danny Dietz Memorial World Championship Cookoff 🏅 Waller, TX | 47 / 75 (657.1888) | 60 (162.2860) | 64 (157.1428) | 21 (171.4400) | 31 (166.3200) |
| Mar 20, 2026 | 8th Annual Qlathe BBQ Championship 🏅 Olathe, KS | 49 / 68 (664.4684) | 37 (168.5600) | 54 (163.3944) | 34 (170.2856) | 53 (162.2284) |
| Jun 13, 2025 | Montana BBQ Cookoff 🏅 Absarokee, MT | 29 / 33 (614.6516) | 27 (155.3828) | 32 (147.9544) | 20 (162.8228) | 28 (148.4916) |
| Sep 20, 2024 | Cherokee Strip BBQ & Chili Cook-Off 🏅 Ponca City, OK | 7 / 26 (336.5028) | 4 (171.9656) | 8 (164.5372) | — | — |
| Jun 7, 2024 | Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest 🏅 Derby, KS | 13 / 43 (326.7772) | 11 (162.8000) | 14 (163.9772) | — | — |
| Jul 30, 2022 | Colorado Rib Challenge at the Douglas County Fair & Rodeo - One Meat Rib Castle Rock, CO | — | — | 10 (156.5368) | — | — |
| May 31, 2019 | Up In Smoke on the Square 🏅 Lincoln, IL | — | — | — | — | — |
| Jun 1, 2018 | Up In smoke on the Square ( WAIT LIST ONLY FOR JUDGES) Lincoln, IL | — | — | — | — | — |
| Jul 14, 2017 | Chillin & Grillin In The Glades Wise, VA | 23 / 26 (603.3372) | 22 (153.7028) | 26 (142.2744) | 10 (162.8456) | 24 (144.5144) |
| Jun 2, 2017 | Up In smoke on the Square Lincoln, IL | — | — | — | — | — |
| Jun 3, 2016 | Up In smoke on the Square Lincoln, IL | — | — | — | — | — |
| Oct 10, 2014 | Smoke on the Water at Lake Shawnee Topeka, KS | 32 / 37 (580.3776) | 32 (150.2860) | 7 (169.7944) | 24 (156.5828) | 36 (103.7144) |
| Sep 19, 2014 | Jesse James Barbeque Cook Out Kearney, MO | 31 / 49 (649.7032) | 44 (154.8688) | 23 (165.1200) | 40 (159.4172) | 11 (170.2972) |
| Oct 11, 2013 | Smoke on the Water Topeka, KS | 40 / 43 (594.2744) | 23 (157.7028) | 42 (129.1088) | 33 (151.4400) | 21 (156.0228) |
| Aug 31, 2013 | City of Bedford Blues & BBQ Festival Bedford, TX | 79 / 89 (591.3488) | 71 (151.4172) | 87 (137.7144) | 73 (147.3944) | 52 (154.8228) |
| May 3, 2013 | Truman Heritage Festival BBQ Championship Grandview, MO | 31 / 31 (473.1428) | 25 (148.5714) | 21 (152) | 28 (152.5714) | 31 (20) |