Perfect scores on the board
1
perfect 180
1 perfect 180 in the data — every judge at the table handing back a nine, all in chicken.
- Chicken ×1
Good News BBQ
Good News BBQ is a competition barbecue team with 7 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2015 and 2026. They have won 1 Grand Championship, at the Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest (2026). They are ranked #2375 of 6,491 teams in the KCBS power rankings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1524
peak 1531 · rated over 7 contests
Contests
7
in the data
First seen
Aug 21, 2015
latest Sep 30, 2026 · 11.1 years on the trail
Grand champs
1
0 reserve · wins it all 14% of the time
Category wins
1
2 podiums
Overall top-10s
3
43% of 7 contests
Best top-10 run
3
straight overall top-10s
Avg finish
top 45%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
1 🔥
Walk rate
57%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±8.52
spread of their Backyard overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Chicken
avg 167.24 · weakest Brisket (160.73)
Road miles
1,482
across 7 mapped stops · furthest 1,120 mi
Schedule strength
60%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1575)
Purse competed for
$132K
listed at 6 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
1 🏅
won from 5 state-championship entries
Master avg
643.70 / 720
3 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
341.54 / 360
4 Backyard contests · 1 GC
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 ↗ | Master | #800 (135 pts) | #858 (145 pts) | #894 (150 pts) | #828 (130 pts) | #832 (135 pts) |
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to Good News BBQ, each with one reason worth a look.
93 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
#2,384 of the rated field
- Contests
- 12
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 17%
- Peak
- 1529
1–0 in 1 shared contest (100% to Good News BBQ)
One contest in common so far: too few to settle anything, but a team Good News BBQ has actually stood beside rather than a stranger on the same rating.
⚔ Head-to-head#2,363 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 14%
- Peak
- 1526
Their last contest in the data was back in 2021, 5 years before Good News BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#2,389 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 29%
- Peak
- 1524
Careers of much the same size, 7 contests to 7, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#2,374 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 14%
- Peak
- 1526
Level with Good News BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#2,388 of the rated field
- Contests
- 9
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 33%
- Peak
- 1527
This is the highest they've ever been rated, 8 rated contests in — a team sitting at its own career peak.
⚔ Compare careers#2,370 of the rated field
- Contests
- 8
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 25%
- Peak
- 1524
This is the highest they've ever been rated, 8 rated contests in — a team sitting at its own career peak.
⚔ Compare careersFamiliar foes (most-met opponents in overall standings — one meeting per contest)
| Opponent | Meetings | Ahead | Behind | Win rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WOOD HOOK BBQ | 6 | 4 | 2 | 67% | ⚔ compare |
| HOLLOW Q | 5 | 2 | 3 | 40% | ⚔ compare |
| MUNNY'S STOVE | 5 | 2 | 3 | 40% | ⚔ compare |
By meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 7 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 180 🔥 | 150.8456 | 167.24 | top 42% |
| Pork Ribs | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 175.4172 | 129.1544 | 164.81 | top 41% |
| Pork | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 167.3828 | 157.6684 | 163.58 | top 73% |
| Brisket | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 165.6800 | 152.5488 | 160.73 | top 75% |
“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 25% |
| Medium (20–39) | 3 | 1 | top 34% |
| Large (40+) | 3 | 0 | top 64% |
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 | 10 | 0 | top 27% | Jun 13, 2025 |
More numbers
Busiest season
2026
3 contests · 1 GC
Contests a season
1.8
across 4 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
KS
5 of 7 contests · 3 states in all
Contests visited
6
1 of them more than once
First title
Jun 12, 2026
Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest
Opponents faced
502
finished ahead 271 times, behind 344
Longest layoff
8.8 yrs
Aug 21, 2015 → Jun 7, 2024
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20268 milestones
- First category win (Chicken) Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest
- First Grand Championship Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest
- First state championship Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest
- First perfect 180 (Chicken) Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest
- Biggest field won (36 teams) Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest
- Peak power rating (1531) Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest
- Career-best overall score672.4228 American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Open Contest
- Most recent contest American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Open Contest
20244 milestones
- First call Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score334.8572 Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest
- First overall top-10 Saucy and Glazed
- First overall podium Saucy and Glazed
20151 milestone
- First tracked contest VA BBQ Championships
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +18.8 | Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest | Jun 12, 2026 |
| +10.1 | Saucy and Glazed | Jul 12, 2024 |
| +7.9 | Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest | Jun 13, 2025 |
| +7.3 | Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest | Jun 7, 2024 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -13.1 | VA BBQ Championships | Aug 21, 2015 |
| -4.4 | Cherokee Strip BBQ & Chili Cookoff | Sep 18, 2026 |
| -2.4 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Open Contest | Sep 30, 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 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 33% | top 46% | 98.7% | 95% |
| 2025 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 28% | 92.8% | 92.8% |
| 2024 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 25% | 94.9% | 94% |
| 2015 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 100% | 82% | 82% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 30, 2026 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Open Contest Kansas City, KS | 238 / 360 (672.4228) | 255 (167.3828) | 108 (173.7028) | 232 (167.3828) | 264 (163.9544) |
| Sep 18, 2026 | Cherokee Strip BBQ & Chili Cookoff 🏅 Ponca City, OK | 21 / 30 (668.4456) | 19 (168.5484) | 18 (168.5372) | 22 (165.6800) | 21 (165.6800) |
| Jun 12, 2026 | Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest 🏅 Derby, KS | 1 / 36 (355.4172) | 1 (180) | 5 (175.4172) | — | — |
| Jun 13, 2025 | Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest 🏅 Derby, KS | 10 / 36 (334.2400) | 8 (169.6800) | 14 (164.5600) | — | — |
| Jul 12, 2024 | Saucy and Glazed 🏅 Newton, KS | 3 / 12 (341.6456) | 2 (173.1084) | 4 (168.5372) | — | — |
| Jun 7, 2024 | Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest 🏅 Derby, KS | 11 / 43 (334.8572) | 12 (161.1200) | 4 (173.7372) | — | — |
| Aug 21, 2015 | VA BBQ Championships Hampton, VA | 46 / 46 (590.2172) | 41 (150.8456) | 46 (129.1544) | 38 (157.6684) | 38 (152.5488) |