High-water mark
682.1596
career-best overall
94.7% of a perfect 720
Their best day on record: 682.1596 at The Golden State Battle VIII — 94.7% of a perfect 720.
- Master
- Jan 30, 2026
Smoking Rays Backyard BBQ
Smoking Rays Backyard BBQ is a competition barbecue team with 5 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2019 and 2026. Their best overall finish is 3rd of 37 at the Horse Town Brew N Que Festival (2022). They finished #1955 in the 2019 Master Series Team of the Year standings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1512
Unranked — needs 5 rated contests, has 3
Contests
5
in the data
First seen
May 31, 2019
latest Jan 30, 2026 · 6.7 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
1 podium
Overall top-10s
1
20% of 5 contests
Avg finish
top 40%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
20%
contests with a top-10 call
Strongest meat
Chicken
avg 170.82 · weakest Pork Ribs (167.68)
Road miles
23
across 5 mapped stops
Schedule strength
48%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1562)
Purse competed for
$28K
listed at 3 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 3 state-championship entries
Master avg
671.29 / 720
2 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
334.78 / 360
1 Backyard contest · 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)
| Year | Series | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 ↗ | Master | #1955 (60 pts) | #1796 (100 pts) | #1820 (95 pts) | #2029 (60 pts) | #1906 (75 pts) |
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to Smoking Rays Backyard BBQ, each with one reason worth a look.
Smoking Rays Backyard 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 123 rated teams sit within a point of it.
#2,771 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 33%
- Peak
- 1526
1–0 in 1 shared contest (100% to Smoking Rays Backyard BBQ)
One contest in common so far: too few to settle anything, but a team Smoking Rays Backyard BBQ has actually stood beside rather than a stranger on the same rating.
⚔ Head-to-head#2,791 of the rated field
- Contests
- 20
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1533
0–1 in 1 shared contest (0% to Smoking Rays Backyard BBQ)
Their last contest in the data was back in 2019, 7 years before Smoking Rays Backyard BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head#2,773 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- 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#2,789 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1517
Level with Smoking Rays Backyard BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#2,772 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1522
Their last contest in the data was back in 2021, 5 years before Smoking Rays Backyard BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#2,775 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1518
Their last contest in the data was back in 2019, 7 years before Smoking Rays Backyard 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 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 171.9656 | 169.6800 | 170.82 | top 31% |
| Pork Ribs | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 170.2628 | 165.0972 | 167.68 | top 33% |
| Brisket | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 170.2628 | 170.2628 | 170.26 | top 46% |
“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) | 1 | 0 | top 8% |
| Large (40+) | 2 | 0 | top 56% |
Repeat visits (contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horse Town Brew N Que Festival | 2 | 3 | 0 | top 32% | Jun 3, 2022 |
More numbers
Contests a season
1
across 5 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
CA
5 of 5 contests
Contests visited
2
1 of them more than once
Opponents faced
126
finished ahead 77 times, behind 71
Longest layoff
3.7 yrs
Jun 3, 2022 → Jan 30, 2026
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20263 milestones
- Career-best overall score682.1596 The Golden State Battle VIII
- Career-best single call (Chicken)171.9656 The Golden State Battle VIII
- Most recent contest The Golden State Battle VIII
20224 milestones
- First call Horse Town Brew N Que Festival
- First overall top-10 Horse Town Brew N Que Festival
- First overall podium Horse Town Brew N Que Festival
- Peak power rating (1512) Horse Town Brew N Que Festival
20191 milestone
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score660.4232 Horse Town Brew N Que Festival (JUDGES FULL)
20171 milestone
- First tracked contest SoCal BBQ Bash and Expo (JUDGES FULL)
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +14.8 | Horse Town Brew N Que Festival | Jun 3, 2022 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -3.2 | Horse Town Brew N Que Festival (JUDGES FULL) | May 31, 2019 |
| -0.2 | The Golden State Battle VIII | Jan 30, 2026 |
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 | 0% | top 56% | 94.7% | 94.7% |
| 2022 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 8% | 93% | 93% |
| 2019 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 55% | 91.7% | 91.7% |
| 2018 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
| 2017 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 30, 2026 | The Golden State Battle VIII 🏅 Riverside, CA | 23 / 41 (682.1596) | 22 (171.9656) | 23 (170.2628) | — | 19 (170.2628) |
| Jun 3, 2022 | Horse Town Brew N Que Festival 🏅 Norco, CA | 3 / 37 (334.7772) | 3 (169.6800) | 4 (165.0972) | — | — |
| May 31, 2019 | Horse Town Brew N Que Festival (JUDGES FULL) 🏅 Norco, CA | 27 / 49 (660.4232) | — | — | — | — |
| Jun 1, 2018 | Horse Town Brew B Que Festival Norco, CA | — | — | — | — | — |
| May 19, 2017 | SoCal BBQ Bash and Expo (JUDGES FULL) Pomona, CA | — | — | — | — | — |