High-water mark
674.2056
career-best overall
93.6% of a perfect 720
Their best day on record: 674.2056 at Smoke in the North (Day 1) — 93.6% of a perfect 720.
- Master
- 2026-08-21
HellYeah BBQ
At a glance (everything the results say about this team, in numbers)
Rating
1498
peak 1498 · rated over 4 contests ⓘ
Contests
4
in the data
First seen
2018-03-02
latest 2026-08-22
Best ToY finish
#577
Master 2026
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
1 podiums
Overall top-10s
0
of 4 contests
Avg finish
top 60%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Current form
667.76
last 3 Master vs avg 667.76 (+0.00)
Walk rate
50%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±8.75
std dev of Master overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Pork
avg 169.33 · weakest Chicken (160.40)
Road miles
4,974
mi across 4 mapped stops · furthest 4126 mi
Schedule strength
45%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1558)
Purse competed for
$9K
listed at 1 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
GCs in 1 state-championship entries
Master avg
667.76 / 720
3 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
313.09 / 360
1 Backyard contest · 0 GCs
Master and Backyard overall scores sit on different scales (Master is 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.
Storylines (3 found in this team's record)
Each card leads with the number that made it a story — read straight out of their results, no editorialising.
The comeback
8.5 yrs
off the trail, then back
Off the trail for 8.5 years, then back at Smoke N for the Kids (Day 1) (2026-08-14).
- last seen 2018-03-02
- back 2026-08-14
The long haul
4,974
road miles between contests
Contest to contest, they've covered roughly 4,974 miles across 4 mapped stops — the longest single trip being 4,126 miles to Smoke in the North (Day 1).
- 4 mapped stops
- furthest 4,126 mi
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The nearest teams in the power rankings, with a different reason on each card — six teams on one rating are rarely on it for the same reason. Rating decides who makes the list; where teams tie on it, the ones this team has actually cooked against come first, then teams at a similar point in their own career. KCBS doesn’t publish where a team is from, so nothing here is inferred from geography.
HellYeah BBQ has 4 rated contests — short of the five it takes to earn a power ranking — so this rating has barely moved off the 1500 every team starts on and 123 rated teams sit within a point of it. Read the list as the nearest company at a number nobody here has moved far from, not as a verdict on who this team belongs with.
#3297 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1514
No shared contest yet.
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 4, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Head-to-head#3295 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1507
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2023, 3 years before HellYeah BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head#3285 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1507
No shared contest yet.
Level with HellYeah BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Head-to-head#3288 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1509
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2017, 9 years before HellYeah BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head#3301 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1506
No shared contest yet.
They were already cooking in 2013, 5 years before HellYeah BBQ's first contest.
⚔ Head-to-head#3296 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1506
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2017, 9 years before HellYeah BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-headBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 166.8112 | 153.1088 | 160.40 | top 78% |
| Pork Ribs | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 175.4744 | 159.9772 | 166.86 | top 52% |
| Pork | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 178.2972 | 161.6800 | 169.33 | top 42% |
| Brisket | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 171.4172 | 158.8228 | 166.46 | top 49% |
“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 state / province
| Where | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| IL | 1 | 0 | top 81% |
| MN | 1 | 0 | top 61% |
By contest size
| Field | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medium (20–39) | 3 | 0 | top 59% |
| Large (40+) | 1 | 0 | top 61% |
Contest-by-contest record (recurring contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke in the North (Day 2) | 2 | 12 | 0 | top 48% | 2026-08-22 |
The story so far (18 numbers that describe this team)
On the trail
8.5 yrs
2018-03-02 → 2026-08-22
Busiest season
2026
3 contests
Contests a season
2
across 2 seasons in the data
Cooks most in
IL
1 of 4 contests · 2 states/provinces in all
Contests visited
3
1 of them cooked more than once
Most-entered meat
Chicken
4 entries · 0 wins · 0 calls
Strongest meat
Pork
averages 169.33 · weakest Chicken (160.40)
Walk rate
50%
a top-10 call in 2 of 4 contests
Overall top-10 rate
0%
0 of 4 contests
Master average
667.76
out of 720 · 3 contests · 0 GCs
Backyard average
313.09
out of 360 · 1 contest · 0 GCs
Opponents faced
131
57–98 across every shared overall standing
Road miles
4,974
4 mapped stops · furthest 4,126 mi
Schedule strength
1558
average field rating faced — tougher than 45% of rated contests
Purse competed for
$9,400
listed at 1 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0
from 1 state-championship entries
Longest layoff
8.5 yrs
2018-03-02 → 2026-08-14
Power rating
1498
peak 1498 · #null of 6,413 rated
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
- 2018
- First tracked contest Fire on Ice Barbecue World Championship
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score655.3944 Fire on Ice Barbecue World Championship
- Peak power rating (1499) Fire on Ice Barbecue World Championship
- 2026
- First call Smoke in the North (Day 1)
- Career-best overall score674.2056 Smoke in the North (Day 1)
- Career-best single call (Pork)178.2972 Smoke in the North (Day 1)
- Most recent contest Smoke in the North (Day 2)
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +3.5 | Smoke in the North (Day 2) | 2026-08-22 |
| +1.8 | Smoke in the North (Day 1) | 2026-08-21 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -6.8 | Smoke N for the Kids (Day 1) | 2026-08-14 |
| -0.8 | Fire on Ice Barbecue World Championship | 2018-03-02 |
Category scores over time
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 | 67% | top 59% | 93.6% | 91.4% |
| 2018 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 61% | 91% | 91% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-22 | Smoke in the North (Day 2) Boras, 50113 | 12 / 26 (673.6916) | 26 (158.8000) | 4 (175.4744) | 11 (168.0000) | 8 (171.4172) |
| 2026-08-21 | Smoke in the North (Day 1) Boras, 50113 | 14 / 28 (674.2056) | 19 (166.8112) | 16 (170.2744) | 3 (178.2972) | 24 (158.8228) |
| 2026-08-14 | Smoke N for the Kids (Day 1) 🏅 Troy, IL | 21 / 26 (313.0860) | 21 (153.1088) | 17 (159.9772) | — | — |
| 2018-03-02 | Fire on Ice Barbecue World Championship Onamia, MN | 35 / 57 (655.3944) | 37 (162.8684) | 39 (161.7144) | 42 (161.6800) | 17 (169.1316) |
Career map (orange GC · green top-10 · grey the rest — tap a pin)
Team of the Year standings (rank per category by season — year links to the full board on kcbs.us)
| Year | Series | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 ↗ | Master | #577 (224 pts) | #785 (134 pts) | #556 (299 pts) | #462 (349 pts) | #624 (204 pts) |