The one to beat
2×
one call ahead of them
BIG WOOD has finished one call ahead of Making BBQ Great Again 2 times — their closest competition in the data.
Making BBQ Great Again
Making BBQ Great Again is a competition barbecue team with 9 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2017 and 2026. Their best overall finish is 8th of 9 at the East Central Kansas State BBQ Championship (BACKYARD) - Paola Roots Festival (2023). They are ranked #6100 of 6,491 teams in the KCBS power rankings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1429
peak 1429 · rated over 7 contests
Contests
9
in the data
First seen
Aug 25, 2017
latest Aug 28, 2026 · 9 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
0 podiums
Overall top-10s
1
11% of 9 contests
Avg finish
top 95%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Current form
573.65 ▼
last 5 Master vs avg 578.50 (-4.85)
Walk rate
11%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±57.12
spread of their Master overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Pork
avg 157.29 · weakest Brisket (140.85)
Road miles
2,937
across 9 mapped stops · furthest 979 mi
Schedule strength
52%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1567)
Purse competed for
$19K
listed at 5 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 4 state-championship entries
Master avg
578.50 / 720
6 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
302.25 / 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.
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to Making BBQ Great Again, each with one reason worth a look.
51 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
#6,106 of the rated field
- Contests
- 10
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 10%
- Peak
- 1429
2–0 in 2 shared contests (100% to Making BBQ Great Again)
2 contests in common so far: too few to settle anything, but a team Making BBQ Great Again has actually stood beside rather than a stranger on the same rating.
⚔ Head-to-head#6,097 of the rated field
- Contests
- 8
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1429
This is the highest they've ever been rated, 8 rated contests in — a team sitting at its own career peak.
⚔ Compare careers#6,096 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1429
Their last contest in the data was back in 2022, 4 years before Making BBQ Great Again's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#6,102 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1429
Fewer contests behind them than Making BBQ Great Again has cooked, 6 to 9, which makes theirs the less settled rating of the two.
⚔ Compare careers#6,104 of the rated field
- Contests
- 9
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1429
Both teams' first contest in the data came in 2017.
⚔ Compare careers#6,095 of the rated field
- Contests
- 10
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 10%
- Peak
- 1429
Level with Making BBQ Great Again on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careersFamiliar foes (most-met opponents in overall standings — one meeting per contest)
| Opponent | Meetings | Ahead | Behind | Win rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Smoke | 6 | 2 | 4 | 33% | ⚔ compare |
| Smokey and the Brisket | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0% | ⚔ compare |
By meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 164.5716 | 142.8344 | 151.24 | top 87% |
| Pork Ribs | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 166.2516 | 145.0628 | 152.37 | top 84% |
| Pork | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 166.2744 | 139.8856 | 157.29 | top 78% |
| Brisket | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 155.3828 | 121.0056 | 140.85 | top 92% |
“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 | 0 | top 89% |
| Medium (20–39) | 2 | 0 | top 93% |
| Large (40+) | 4 | 0 | top 97% |
Repeat visits (contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Central State BBQ Cook-Off-Paola Roots Festival | 3 | 45 | 0 | top 98% | Aug 26, 2022 |
More numbers
Busiest season
2018
2 contests
Contests a season
1.3
across 7 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
KS
7 of 9 contests · 2 states in all
Contests visited
5
1 of them more than once
Opponents faced
171
finished ahead 11 times, behind 260
Longest layoff
4 yrs
Aug 24, 2018 → Aug 26, 2022
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20262 milestones
- Career-best single call (Pork)166.2744 East Central State BBQ Cookoff - Paola Roots Festival
- Most recent contest East Central State BBQ Cookoff - Paola Roots Festival
20241 milestone
- Career-best overall score617.5316 East Central Kansas State BBQ Championship
20232 milestones
20172 milestones
- First tracked contest 4th Annual Pickin N Pullin BBQ competition
- Peak power rating (1486) East Central State BBQ Cook-Off, Paola Roots Festival
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -13.7 | East Central State BBQ Cook-Off, Paola Roots Festival | Aug 25, 2017 |
| -11.8 | East Central State BBQ Cook-Off, Paola Roots Festival | Aug 24, 2018 |
| -11.8 | East Central State BBQ Cook-Off-Paola Roots Festival | Aug 26, 2022 |
| -8.8 | East Central Kansas State BBQ Championship | Aug 23, 2024 |
| -8.7 | East Central State BBQ Cookoff - Paola Roots Festival | Aug 28, 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 94% | 85.3% | 85.3% |
| 2025 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 93% | 85.1% | 85.1% |
| 2024 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 95% | 85.8% | 85.8% |
| 2023 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 89% | 84% | 84% |
| 2022 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 100% | 63.4% | 63.4% |
| 2018 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 96% | 78.8% | 78.8% |
| 2017 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 98% | 83.7% | 83.7% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 28, 2026 | East Central State BBQ Cookoff - Paola Roots Festival 🏅 Paola, KS | 29 / 31 (614.1256) | 28 (147.4056) | 30 (145.0628) | 20 (166.2744) | 26 (155.3828) |
| Aug 22, 2025 | East Central State BBQ Cookoff 🏅 Paola, KS | 25 / 27 (612.8804) | 23 (155.9544) | 25 (150.2172) | 24 (154.7772) | 23 (151.9316) |
| Aug 23, 2024 | East Central Kansas State BBQ Championship 🏅 Paola, KS | 40 / 42 (617.5316) | 27 (164.5716) | 26 (166.2516) | 28 (165.7028) | 42 (121.0056) |
| Aug 25, 2023 | East Central Kansas State BBQ Championship (BACKYARD) - Paola Roots Festival Paola, KS | 8 / 9 (302.2516) | 8 (151.9544) | 8 (150.2972) | — | — |
| Aug 26, 2022 | East Central State BBQ Cook-Off-Paola Roots Festival 🏅 Paola, KS | 45 / 45 (456.5028) | 39 (151.9772) | 44 (146.2856) | 34 (158.2400) | — |
| Aug 24, 2018 | East Central State BBQ Cook-Off, Paola Roots Festival Paola, KS | 64 / 67 (567.2004) | 64 (143.9772) | 63 (147.3832) | 66 (139.8856) | 63 (135.9544) |
| Apr 27, 2018 | Pickin N Pullin BBQ competition Lenexa, VA | — | — | — | — | — |
| Aug 25, 2017 | East Central State BBQ Cook-Off, Paola Roots Festival Paola, KS | 56 / 57 (602.7772) | 56 (142.8344) | 33 (161.1084) | 42 (158.8456) | 54 (139.9888) |
| Apr 28, 2017 | 4th Annual Pickin N Pullin BBQ competition Lanexa, VA | — | — | — | — | — |