The heartbreaker
3.4400
points from the title
Came within 3.4400 points of the Grand Championship at Hoosier BBQ Classic (2025-06-06).
Virtual Smoke
At a glance (everything the results say about this team, in numbers)
Rating
1525
peak 1525 · rated over 2 contests ⓘ
Contests
6
in the data
First seen
2023-10-13
latest 2025-06-06
Grand champs
0
1 reserve
Category wins
0
1 podiums
Overall top-10s
2
of 6 contests
Avg finish
top 21%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
33%
contests with a top-10 call
Top-10 streak
2
and counting
Strongest meat
Brisket
avg 176.57 · weakest Pork Ribs (168.25)
Road miles
917
mi across 6 mapped stops · furthest 423 mi
Purse competed for
$36K
listed at 5 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
GCs in 5 state-championship entries
Master avg
689.66 / 720
1 Master contest · 0 GCs
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.
High-water mark
689.6572
career-best overall
95.8% of a perfect 720
Their best day on record: 689.6572 at Waxhaw Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cook Off — 95.8% of a perfect 720.
- Master
- 2023-10-13
The comeback
1.6 yrs
off the trail, then back
Off the trail for 1.6 years, then back at Hoosier BBQ Classic (2025-06-06).
- last seen 2023-10-13
- back 2025-06-06
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.
Virtual Smoke has 2 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 79 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.
#2322 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 40%
- Peak
- 1525
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2021, 4 years before Virtual Smoke's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head#2321 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1526
No shared contest yet.
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 6, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Head-to-head#2330 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 33%
- Peak
- 1530
No shared contest yet.
They were already cooking in 2014, 9 years before Virtual Smoke's first contest.
⚔ Head-to-head#2338 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 29%
- Peak
- 1525
No shared contest yet.
Level with Virtual Smoke on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Head-to-head#2326 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 43%
- Peak
- 1543
No shared contest yet.
Careers of much the same size, 7 contests to 6, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Head-to-head#2331 of the rated field
- Contests
- 8
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 38%
- Peak
- 1535
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2018, 7 years before Virtual Smoke'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 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 176.0000 | 176.0000 | 176.00 | top 24% |
| Pork Ribs | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 169.1200 | 167.3828 | 168.25 | top 64% |
| Pork | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 169.7028 | 169.7028 | 169.70 | top 48% |
| Brisket | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 176.5716 | 176.5716 | 176.57 | top 8% |
“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.
The story so far (17 numbers that describe this team)
On the trail
1.6 yrs
2023-10-13 → 2025-06-06
Busiest season
2023
3 contests
Contests a season
2
across 3 seasons in the data
Cooks most in
IN
5 of 6 contests · 2 states/provinces in all
Contests visited
2
0 of them cooked more than once
Most-entered meat
Pork Ribs
2 entries · 0 wins · 1 calls
Strongest meat
Brisket
averages 176.57 · weakest Pork Ribs (168.25)
Walk rate
33%
a top-10 call in 2 of 6 contests
Overall top-10 rate
33%
2 of 6 contests
Best top-10 run
2
straight contests — and still running
Master average
689.66
out of 720 · 1 contest · 0 GCs
Opponents faced
56
46–10 across every shared overall standing
Road miles
917
6 mapped stops · furthest 423 mi
Purse competed for
$36,200
listed at 5 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0
from 5 state-championship entries
Longest layoff
1.6 yrs
2023-10-13 → 2025-06-06
Power rating
1525
peak 1525 · #null of 6,413 rated
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
- 2022
- First tracked contest Smoke on the Water
- 2023
- First call Hoosier BBQ Classic (ONE MEAT RIBS)
- First overall top-10 Waxhaw Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cook Off
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score689.6572 Waxhaw Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cook Off
- Career-best overall score689.6572 Waxhaw Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cook Off
- Career-best single call (Brisket)176.5716 Waxhaw Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cook Off
- 2025
- First overall podium Hoosier BBQ Classic
- First Reserve Championship Hoosier BBQ Classic
- Most recent contest Hoosier BBQ Classic
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0% | top 7% | — | — |
| 2023 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 67% | top 36% | 95.8% | 95.8% |
| 2022 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-06-06 | Hoosier BBQ Classic 🏅 Franklin, IN | 2 / 30 (176.5600) | — | — | — | — |
| 2023-10-13 | Waxhaw Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cook Off 🏅 Waxhaw, NC | 9 / 25 (689.6572) | 6 (176.0000) | 17 (167.3828) | 12 (169.7028) | 2 (176.5716) |
| 2023-06-09 | Hoosier BBQ Classic #1 🏅 Franklin, IN | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2023-06-09 | Hoosier BBQ Classic (ONE MEAT RIBS) Franklin, IN | — | — | 9 (169.1200) | — | — |
| 2022-06-17 | Hoosier BBQ Classic Day 1 🏅 Franklin, IN | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2022-04-29 | Smoke on the Water 🏅 Liberty, IN | — | — | — | — | — |