The comeback
6.3 yrs
off the trail, then back
Off the trail for 6.3 years, then back at Barbecue With A View (BACKYARD ONLY) (Oct 21, 2022).
- last seen Jun 17, 2016
- back Oct 21, 2022
JK BBQ
JK BBQ is a competition barbecue team with 5 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2022 and 2025. Their best overall finish is 15th of 28 at the Barbecue With A View (BACKYARD ONLY) (2022). They finished #1148 in the 2025 Master Series Team of the Year standings. Also listed in KCBS results as “J&K BBQ” and “J K BBQ”.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1478
Unranked — needs 5 rated contests, has 3
Contests
5
in the data
First seen
Oct 21, 2022
latest Jun 13, 2025 · 2.6 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
0 podiums
Overall top-10s
0
0% of 5 contests
Avg finish
top 82%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
20%
contests with a top-10 call
Strongest meat
Pork Ribs
avg 161.68 · weakest Pork (153.96)
Road miles
1,264
across 5 mapped stops · furthest 927 mi
Schedule strength
55%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1570)
Purse competed for
$45K
listed at 3 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 2 state-championship entries
Master avg
617.22 / 720
2 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
335.95 / 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)
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to JK BBQ, each with one reason worth a look.
JK 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 144 rated teams sit within a point of it.
#4,227 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1511
They've been 1511 at their best, 33 points above where they sit today — they're arriving at this rating from above.
⚔ Compare careers#4,234 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1507
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 5, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#4,235 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1502
Level with JK BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#4,246 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1478
Their last contest in the data was back in 2022, 3 years before JK BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#4,240 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1478
They were already cooking in 2014, 8 years before JK BBQ's first contest.
⚔ Compare careers#4,218 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1479
Their last contest in the data was back in 2017, 8 years before JK 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 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 166.8344 | 146.7888 | 154.99 | top 86% |
| Pork Ribs | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 169.1200 | 155.9544 | 161.68 | top 71% |
| Pork | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 158.2512 | 149.6684 | 153.96 | top 96% |
| Brisket | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 159.9884 | 152.4800 | 156.23 | top 91% |
“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) | 2 | 0 | top 77% |
| Large (40+) | 1 | 0 | top 93% |
Repeat visits (contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest | 2 | 36 | 0 | top 97% | Jun 13, 2025 |
More numbers
Contests a season
1
across 5 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
KS
2 of 5 contests · 3 states in all
Contests visited
2
1 of them more than once
Opponents faced
114
finished ahead 16 times, behind 126
Longest layoff
6.3 yrs
Jun 17, 2016 → Oct 21, 2022
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20251 milestone
- Most recent contest Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest
20241 milestone
- Career-best overall score620.9596 Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest
20224 milestones
- First call Barbecue With A View (BACKYARD ONLY)
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score335.9544 Barbecue With A View (BACKYARD ONLY)
- Career-best single call (Pork Ribs)169.1200 Barbecue With A View (BACKYARD ONLY)
- Peak power rating (1503) Barbecue With A View (BACKYARD ONLY)
20151 milestone
- First tracked contest Almost Heaven BBQ Bash
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +3.2 | Barbecue With A View (BACKYARD ONLY) | Oct 21, 2022 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -13 | Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest | Jun 13, 2025 |
| -11.9 | Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest | Jun 7, 2024 |
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 100% | 85.2% | 85.2% |
| 2024 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 93% | 86.2% | 86.2% |
| 2022 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% | top 54% | 93.3% | 93.3% |
| 2016 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
| 2015 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 13, 2025 | Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest 🏅 Derby, KS | 36 / 36 (613.4744) | 35 (146.7888) | 34 (155.9544) | 34 (158.2512) | 36 (152.4800) |
| Jun 7, 2024 | Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest 🏅 Derby, KS | 40 / 43 (620.9596) | 42 (151.3484) | 37 (159.9544) | 42 (149.6684) | 35 (159.9884) |
| Oct 21, 2022 | Barbecue With A View (BACKYARD ONLY) Vicksburg, MS | 15 / 28 (335.9544) | 18 (166.8344) | 9 (169.1200) | — | — |
| Jun 17, 2016 | Almost Heaven BBQ Bash Buckhannon, WV | — | — | — | — | — |
| Jun 19, 2015 | Almost Heaven BBQ Bash Buckhannon, WV | — | — | — | — | — |