Each card leads with the number that made it a story — read straight out of their results, no editorialising.
2014 was the year it came together: 3 contests, 0 Grand Championships and 0 category wins, at an average finish in the top 64%.
RUNWAY SMOKE ahead in 100% of their meetings
RUNWAY SMOKE has come out ahead in 3 of their 3 shared contests.
Brisket is where the weekend gets away from them — it averages 16.29 points below their chicken, and turns into a call 0% of the time against 0%.
Something about August: average finish in the top 66% across 3 contests, versus top 75% the rest of the year.
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.
139 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
One contest in common so far: too few to settle anything, but a team MacDaddy BBQ has actually stood beside rather than a stranger on the same rating.
⚔ Head-to-headThey've been 1501 at their best, 31 points above where they sit today — they're arriving at this rating from above.
⚔ Head-to-headCareers of much the same size, 5 contests to 6, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Head-to-headThey turned up 8 years after MacDaddy BBQ did, first appearing in 2021.
⚔ Head-to-headLevel with MacDaddy BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Head-to-headCareers of much the same size, 5 contests to 6, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Head-to-head| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 165.7256 | 155.4744 | 162.64 | top 64% |
| Pork Ribs | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 166.8572 | 155.9772 | 159.75 | top 67% |
| Pork | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 163.3828 | 153.7142 | 159.39 | top 69% |
| Brisket | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 162.2744 | 135.9428 | 146.35 | top 83% |
“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.
| Where | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| GA | 4 | 0 | top 74% |
| IL | 1 | 0 | top 76% |
| Field | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medium (20–39) | 2 | 0 | top 88% |
| Large (40+) | 3 | 0 | top 66% |
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta BarB-Que Festival | 2 | 22 | 0 | top 61% | 2015-08-14 |
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +0.3 | Atlanta BarB-Que Festival (SBBQA) | 2014-08-15 |
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -12.5 | Smokin' Butts & Tires - Cookoff and Car Show (GBC Qualifier) | 2015-03-27 |
| -7.3 | BBQ Boogie & Blues | 2013-04-26 |
| -5.6 | Up In Smoke On The Square | 2014-08-22 |
| -5.1 | Atlanta BarB-Que Festival | 2015-08-14 |
| Season | Contests | GCs | Top-10s | Category wins | Walk rate | Avg finish | Best overall (% of perfect) | Avg overall (% of perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 85% | 88.9% | 87.1% |
| 2014 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 64% | 90% | 88.1% |
| 2013 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 76% | 85.7% | 85.7% |
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-08-14 | Atlanta BarB-Que Festival Atlanta, GA | 34 / 48 (639.9200) | 28 (165.7256) | 38 (155.9772) | 40 (155.9428) | 24 (162.2744) |
| 2015-03-27 | Smokin' Butts & Tires - Cookoff and Car Show (GBC Qualifier) Conyers, GA | 38 / 38 (614.7088) | 35 (155.4744) | 32 (157.0972) | 27 (163.3828) | 38 (138.7544) |
| 2014-08-22 | Up In Smoke On The Square Lincoln, IL | 38 / 50 (621.0396) | 20 (164.5828) | 37 (159.4056) | 29 (161.1084) | 48 (135.9428) |
| 2014-08-15 | Atlanta BarB-Que Festival (SBBQA) Atlanta, GA | 22 / 43 (647.8744) | 22 (165.7144) | 12 (166.8572) | 24 (162.8000) | 34 (152.5028) |
| 2014-04-03 | Smokin on the River (GBC & SBBQA Qualifier) Summerville, GA | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2013-04-26 | BBQ Boogie & Blues Calhoun, GA | 19 / 25 (617.1426) | 19 (161.7142) | 18 (159.4284) | 19 (153.7142) | 22 (142.2858) |