High-water mark
343.4060
career-best overall
95.4% of a perfect 360
Their best day on record: 343.4060 at Christmas on the River State Bar B Q Championship — 95.4% of a perfect 360.
- Backyard
- Dec 1, 2023
Colonel Rusty's
Colonel Rusty's is a competition barbecue team with 7 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2019 and 2023. Their best overall finish is 4th of 17 at the Christmas on the River State Bar B Q Championship (2023). They are ranked #3410 of 6,476 teams in the KCBS power rankings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1495
peak 1495 · rated over 5 contests
Contests
7
in the data
First seen
Dec 6, 2019
latest Dec 1, 2023 · 4 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
2 podiums
Overall top-10s
2
29% of 7 contests
Avg finish
top 63%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
57%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±11.76
spread of their Backyard overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Pork Ribs
avg 168.09 · weakest Chicken (161.21)
Road miles
585
across 7 mapped stops · furthest 104 mi
Schedule strength
59%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1574)
Purse competed for
$25K
listed at 4 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 3 state-championship entries
Backyard avg
329.84 / 360
3 Backyard contests · 0 GCs
Backyard (3-meat) avg
328.49 / 540
2 Backyard (3-meat) contests · 0 GCs
These overall scores sit on different scales (Backyard out of 360, Backyard (3-meat) out of 540), 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.
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to Colonel Rusty's, each with one reason worth a look.
129 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
#3,409 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1500
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 7, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#3,400 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 40%
- Peak
- 1516
They were already cooking in 2013, 6 years before Colonel Rusty's's first contest.
⚔ Compare careers#3,413 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1495
Their last contest in the data was back in 2019, 4 years before Colonel Rusty's's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#3,423 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1495
Level with Colonel Rusty's on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#3,411 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1504
Their last contest in the data was back in 2019, 4 years before Colonel Rusty's's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#3,415 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1503
Their last contest in the data was back in 2017, 6 years before Colonel Rusty's'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 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 171.4172 | 155.9656 | 161.21 | top 56% |
| Pork Ribs | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 175.4400 | 156.5144 | 168.09 | top 28% |
“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 33% |
| Medium (20–39) | 3 | 0 | top 83% |
Repeat visits (contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christmas on the River State Bar B Q Championship | 2 | 4 | 0 | top 33% | Dec 1, 2023 |
| Foley BBQ & Blues Cook Off (BACKYARD ONLY) | 2 | 22 | 0 | top 96% | Mar 12, 2022 |
More numbers
Contests a season
1
across 7 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
AL
7 of 7 contests
Contests visited
3
2 of them more than once
Opponents faced
116
finished ahead 66 times, behind 91
Longest layoff
1.7 yrs
Mar 13, 2020 → Dec 2, 2021
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20232 milestones
- Career-best overall score343.4060 Christmas on the River State Bar B Q Championship
- Most recent contest Christmas on the River State Bar B Q Championship
20213 milestones
- First overall top-10 Christmas on the River State Bar B Q Championship
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score331.4056 Christmas on the River State Bar B Q Championship
- Career-best single call (Pork Ribs)175.4400 Christmas on the River State Bar B Q Championship
20201 milestone
- First call Foley BBQ & Blues Cook Off (BACKYARD ONLY)
20191 milestone
- Peak power rating (1500) COTR BBQ
20171 milestone
- First tracked contest Christmas on the River
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +14.4 | Christmas on the River State Bar B Q Championship | Dec 1, 2023 |
| +7.6 | Christmas on the River State Bar B Q Championship | Dec 2, 2021 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -14.2 | Foley BBQ & Blues Cook Off (BACKYARD ONLY) | Mar 13, 2020 |
| -12.7 | Foley BBQ & Blues Cook Off (BACKYARD ONLY) | Mar 12, 2022 |
| -0.1 | COTR BBQ | Dec 6, 2019 |
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 24% | 95.4% | 95.4% |
| 2022 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% | top 96% | 60.6% | 60.6% |
| 2021 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 42% | 92.1% | 92.1% |
| 2020 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% | top 96% | 61% | 61% |
| 2019 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 56% | 87.4% | 87.4% |
| 2018 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
| 2017 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 1, 2023 | Christmas on the River State Bar B Q Championship 🏅 Demopolis, AL | 4 / 17 (343.4060) | 3 (171.4172) | 4 (171.9888) | — | — |
| Mar 12, 2022 | Foley BBQ & Blues Cook Off (BACKYARD ONLY) Foley, AL | 25 / 26 (327.3600) | 20 (157.6800) | 6 (169.6800) | — | — |
| Dec 2, 2021 | Christmas on the River State Bar B Q Championship 🏅 Demopolis, AL | 8 / 19 (331.4056) | 16 (155.9656) | 4 (175.4400) | — | — |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Foley BBQ & Blues Cook Off (BACKYARD ONLY) Foley, AL | 22 / 23 (329.6228) | 10 (162.8000) | 3 (166.8228) | — | — |
| Dec 6, 2019 | COTR BBQ 🏅 Demopolis, AL | 14 / 25 (314.7200) | 15 (158.2056) | 15 (156.5144) | — | — |
| Nov 30, 2018 | Christmas on the River Demoplis, AL | — | — | — | — | — |
| Dec 1, 2017 | Christmas on the River Demopolis, AL | — | — | — | — | — |