A tough matchup
4–1
behind in the head-to-head
BAR-B-CUDA BBQ ahead in 80% of their meetings
BAR-B-CUDA BBQ has come out ahead in 4 of their 5 shared contests.
Rack to the Future Barbeque
Rack to the Future Barbeque is a competition barbecue team with 6 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2019 and 2025. Their best overall finish is 3rd of 34 at the Lodi BeerFest & State BBQ Championship (2024). They are ranked #3633 of 6,491 teams in the KCBS power rankings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1491
peak 1491 · rated over 6 contests
Contests
6
in the data
First seen
May 3, 2019
latest Apr 25, 2025 · 6 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
0 podiums
Overall top-10s
1
17% of 6 contests
Avg finish
top 61%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
50%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±10.99
spread of their Master overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Pork
avg 163.79 · weakest Chicken (156.16)
Road miles
168
across 6 mapped stops · furthest 43 mi
Schedule strength
36%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1548)
Purse competed for
$31K
listed at 5 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 5 state-championship entries
Master avg
644.62 / 720
3 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
307.37 / 360
2 Backyard contests · 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 ↗ | Master | #1558 (54 pts) | #1555 (54 pts) | #1240 (79 pts) | #904 (139 pts) | #1546 (54 pts) |
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to Rack to the Future Barbeque, each with one reason worth a look.
152 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
#3,622 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 33%
- Peak
- 1491
Careers of much the same size, 6 contests to 6, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#3,641 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 17%
- Peak
- 1517
Level with Rack to the Future Barbeque on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#3,644 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1507
They were already cooking in 2013, 6 years before Rack to the Future Barbeque's first contest.
⚔ Compare careers#3,609 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1505
Their last contest in the data was back in 2021, 4 years before Rack to the Future Barbeque's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#3,648 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 17%
- Peak
- 1490
Their last contest in the data was back in 2019, 6 years before Rack to the Future Barbeque's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#3,628 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1491
Their last contest in the data was back in 2016, 9 years before Rack to the Future Barbeque's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careersFamiliar foes (most-met opponents in overall standings — one meeting per contest)
| Opponent | Meetings | Ahead | Behind | Win rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BAR-B-CUDA BBQ | 5 | 1 | 4 | 20% | ⚔ compare |
| BULL MARKET BBQ | 5 | 1 | 4 | 20% | ⚔ compare |
By meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 169.6800 | 146.1256 | 156.16 | top 75% |
| Pork Ribs | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 167.4172 | 153.6684 | 160.75 | top 55% |
| Pork | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 170.2972 | 160 | 163.79 | top 66% |
| Brisket | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 163.3944 | 150.2400 | 157.87 | top 78% |
“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 73% |
| Medium (20–39) | 5 | 0 | top 58% |
Repeat visits (contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lodi BeerFest & State BBQ Championship | 2 | 3 | 0 | top 42% | Apr 25, 2025 |
More numbers
Busiest season
2019
2 contests
Contests a season
1.2
across 5 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
CA
6 of 6 contests
Contests visited
5
1 of them more than once
Most-entered meat
Pork Ribs
6 entries · 0 wins · 2 calls
Opponents faced
135
finished ahead 90 times, behind 113
Longest layoff
2 yrs
Apr 29, 2022 → Apr 26, 2024
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20252 milestones
- Career-best overall score658.1484 Lodi BeerFest & State BBQ Championship
- Most recent contest Lodi BeerFest & State BBQ Championship
20243 milestones
- First overall top-10 Lodi BeerFest & State BBQ Championship
- First overall podium Lodi BeerFest & State BBQ Championship
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score336.5488 Lodi BeerFest & State BBQ Championship
20211 milestone
- Career-best single call (Pork)170.2972 2nd Annual Throwdown in the Vineyards
20193 milestones
- First tracked contest Elk Grove Western Festival and BBQ Championship (BACK YARD ONLY)
- First call Elk Grove Western Festival and BBQ Championship (BACK YARD ONLY)
- Peak power rating (1497) Clayton BBQ Cook-off
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +15.5 | Lodi BeerFest & State BBQ Championship | Apr 26, 2024 |
| +3.4 | Clayton BBQ Cook-off | Jul 12, 2019 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -8.8 | 2nd Annual Throwdown in the Vineyards | Jun 4, 2021 |
| -7.9 | 3rd Annual Lodi BeerFest & BBQ Championship | Apr 29, 2022 |
| -6.9 | Elk Grove Western Festival and BBQ Championship (BACK YARD ONLY) | May 3, 2019 |
| -4.7 | Lodi BeerFest & State BBQ Championship | Apr 25, 2025 |
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 74% | 91.4% | 91.4% |
| 2024 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 9% | 93.5% | 93.5% |
| 2022 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 83% | 89.5% | 89.5% |
| 2021 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% | top 86% | 87.7% | 87.7% |
| 2019 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50% | top 56% | 85.9% | 85.4% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 25, 2025 | Lodi BeerFest & State BBQ Championship 🏅 Lodi, CA | 23 / 31 (658.1484) | 20 (169.6800) | 18 (167.4172) | 26 (161.0856) | 24 (159.9656) |
| Apr 26, 2024 | Lodi BeerFest & State BBQ Championship 🏅 Lodi, CA | 3 / 34 (336.5488) | — | 8 (161.6916) | — | — |
| Apr 29, 2022 | 3rd Annual Lodi BeerFest & BBQ Championship 🏅 Lodi, CA | 24 / 29 (644.4916) | 25 (161.0972) | 23 (160) | 24 (160) | 20 (163.3944) |
| Jun 4, 2021 | 2nd Annual Throwdown in the Vineyards 🏅 Murphy, CA | 25 / 29 (631.2228) | 26 (146.1256) | 20 (164.5600) | 9 (170.2972) | 25 (150.2400) |
| Jul 12, 2019 | Clayton BBQ Cook-off 🏅 Clayton, CA | 12 / 31 (309.0628) | 13 (155.3944) | 12 (153.6684) | — | — |
| May 3, 2019 | Elk Grove Western Festival and BBQ Championship (BACK YARD ONLY) Elk Grove, CA | 11 / 15 (305.6688) | 14 (148.5144) | 9 (157.1544) | — | — |