High-water mark
681.6116
career-best overall
94.7% of a perfect 720
Their best day on record: 681.6116 at VPD Back the Blue BBQ Competition — 94.7% of a perfect 720.
- Master
- Nov 3, 2023
Ring Of Fire
Ring Of Fire is a competition barbecue team with 9 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2013 and 2025. Their best overall finish is 4th of 61 at the Lakeland Pig Festival (2024). They are ranked #3522 of 6,476 teams in the KCBS power rankings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1492
peak 1501 · rated over 6 contests2 invitational or side-series contests not counted
Contests
9
in the data
First seen
Oct 3, 2013
latest Jul 18, 2025 · 11.8 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
2
2 podiums
Overall top-10s
1
11% of 9 contests
Avg finish
top 74%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Current form
645.83 ▲
last 5 Master vs avg 638.32 (+7.51)
Walk rate
44%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±26.94
spread of their Master overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Pork Ribs
avg 163.76 · weakest Brisket (154.32)
Road miles
4,996
across 9 mapped stops · furthest 1,049 mi
Schedule strength
66%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1584)
Purse competed for
$43K
listed at 4 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 5 state-championship entries
Master avg
638.32 / 720
7 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
342.80 / 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 ↗ | Master | #714 (206 pts) | #662 (271 pts) | #777 (221 pts) | #529 (376 pts) | #781 (191 pts) |
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to Ring Of Fire, each with one reason worth a look.
136 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
#3,551 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1507
0–2 in 2 shared contests (0% to Ring Of Fire)
2 contests in common so far: too few to settle anything, but a team Ring Of Fire has actually stood beside rather than a stranger on the same rating.
⚔ Head-to-head#3,548 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1506
0–1 in 1 shared contest (0% to Ring Of Fire)
Their last contest in the data was back in 2016, 9 years before Ring Of Fire's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head#3,534 of the rated field
- Contests
- 10
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1504
1–0 in 1 shared contest (100% to Ring Of Fire)
Careers of much the same size, 10 contests to 9, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Head-to-head#3,515 of the rated field
- Contests
- 14
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 7%
- Peak
- 1501
0–1 in 1 shared contest (0% to Ring Of Fire)
14 contests and no Grand Championship yet — a rating made of 7% top-10 finishes rather than wins.
⚔ Head-to-head#3,512 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 17%
- Peak
- 1519
Level with Ring Of Fire on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#3,532 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 17%
- Peak
- 1506
They turned up 8 years after Ring Of Fire did, first appearing in 2021.
⚔ Compare careersBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 176 | 154.2172 | 163.33 | top 63% |
| Pork Ribs | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 176.5600 | 152.5488 | 163.76 | top 66% |
| Pork | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 179.4400 | 147.8972 | 160.11 | top 66% |
| Brisket | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 166.8344 | 142.7772 | 154.32 | top 77% |
“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) | 2 | 0 | top 89% |
| Medium (20–39) | 2 | 0 | top 71% |
| Large (40+) | 4 | 0 | top 68% |
More numbers
Busiest season
2023
2 contests
Contests a season
1.5
across 6 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
FL
4 of 9 contests · 5 states in all
Contests visited
8
a different one every time
Opponents faced
426
finished ahead 159 times, behind 320
Longest layoff
8 yrs
Nov 20, 2015 → Nov 3, 2023
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20251 milestone
- Most recent contest Chillin & Grillin in the Glades
20242 milestones
- First overall top-10 Lakeland Pig Festival
- Peak power rating (1501) Lakeland Pig Festival
20234 milestones
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score681.6116 VPD Back the Blue BBQ Competition
- Career-best overall score681.6116 VPD Back the Blue BBQ Competition
- First category win (Pork) Biloxi Blues & BBQ Festival
- Career-best single call (Pork)179.4400 Biloxi Blues & BBQ Festival
20151 milestone
20131 milestone
- First tracked contest 34th Annual American Royal World Series of Barbecue Invitational
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +17 | Lakeland Pig Festival | Jan 26, 2024 |
| +4.5 | VPD Back the Blue BBQ Competition | Nov 3, 2023 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -9.9 | Plant City Pig Jam | Nov 22, 2013 |
| -9 | Plant City Pig Jam - State Championship BBQ Contest | Nov 20, 2015 |
| -8.7 | Chillin & Grillin in the Glades | Jul 18, 2025 |
| -1.5 | Biloxi Blues & BBQ Festival | Nov 11, 2023 |
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 94% | 86.6% | 86.6% |
| 2024 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 100% | top 7% | 95.2% | 95.2% |
| 2023 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100% | top 64% | 94.7% | 94.5% |
| 2015 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50% | top 92% | 86.5% | 86.4% |
| 2014 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
| 2013 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 90% | 87% | 86% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 18, 2025 | Chillin & Grillin in the Glades 🏅 Wise, VA | 32 / 34 (623.7948) | 34 (154.2172) | 27 (165.6916) | 33 (147.8972) | 32 (155.9888) |
| Jan 26, 2024 | Lakeland Pig Festival 🏅 Lakeland, FL | 4 / 61 (342.8000) | 17 (166.2400) | 1 (176.5600) | 20 (165.6916) | 34 (155.4172) |
| Nov 11, 2023 | Biloxi Blues & BBQ Festival 🏅 Biloxi, MS | 15 / 19 (679.3488) | 15 (167.9772) | 17 (165.0972) | 1 (179.4400) | 14 (166.8344) |
| Nov 3, 2023 | VPD Back the Blue BBQ Competition 🏅 Vidalia, LA | 13 / 27 (681.6116) | 5 (176) | 9 (175.4172) | 14 (169.6800) | 17 (160.5144) |
| Nov 20, 2015 | Plant City Pig Jam - State Championship BBQ Contest 🏅 Plant City, FL | 41 / 49 (621.5200) | 33 (161.6800) | 42 (157.0972) | 45 (149.0972) | 35 (153.6456) |
| Oct 14, 2015 | Holmes Drywall BBQ Cookoff 2015 (BACKYARD-INVITATIONAL) unrated Kansas City, MO | 12 / 12 (622.8804) | 6 (163.4628) | 11 (152.5488) | 9 (158.8572) | 9 (148.0116) |
| Nov 21, 2014 | Plant City Pig Jam Plant City, FL | — | — | — | — | — |
| Nov 22, 2013 | Plant City Pig Jam Plant City, FL | 46 / 53 (612.9600) | 41 (156.5028) | 33 (161.1200) | 47 (152.5600) | 50 (142.7772) |
| Oct 3, 2013 | 34th Annual American Royal World Series of Barbecue Invitational unrated Kansas City, MO | 162 / 174 (626.1488) | 145 (160.5600) | 145 (156.5372) | 142 (157.6800) | 156 (151.3716) |
An unrated contest — an invitational, or a Competitor or Kosher Series board — is in the record but doesn’t move the power rating.