The comeback
4.2 yrs
off the trail, then back
Off the trail for 4.2 years, then back at Rock Island BBQ Competition (BACKYARD ONLY) (2023-10-13).
- last seen 2019-08-02
- back 2023-10-13
MO Bestest BBQ
At a glance (everything the results say about this team, in numbers)
Rating
1474
peak 1474 · rated over 4 contests ⓘ
Contests
4
in the data
First seen
2017-07-08
latest 2023-10-13
Best ToY finish
#1954
Master 2018
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
0 podiums
Overall top-10s
1
of 4 contests
Avg finish
top 82%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
25%
contests with a top-10 call
Strongest meat
Pork Ribs
avg 163.84 · weakest Brisket (139.96)
Road miles
124
mi across 4 mapped stops · furthest 45 mi
Schedule strength
49%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1563)
Purse competed for
$6K
listed at 2 contests — purses, not winnings
Master avg
616.76 / 720
2 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
394.27 / 360
2 Backyard contests · 0 GCs
Master and Backyard overall scores sit on different scales (Master is 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.
Storylines (1 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.
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.
MO Bestest BBQ has 4 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 146 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.
#4424 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1474
No shared contest yet.
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 4, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Head-to-head#4436 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1474
No shared contest yet.
They turned up 5 years after MO Bestest BBQ did, first appearing in 2022.
⚔ Head-to-head#4433 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1474
No shared contest yet.
Level with MO Bestest BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Head-to-head#4440 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1474
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2019, 4 years before MO Bestest BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head#4459 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1473
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2019, 4 years before MO Bestest BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head#4443 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1504
No shared contest yet.
They've been 1504 at their best, 30 points above where they sit today — they're arriving at this rating from above.
⚔ Head-to-headBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 161.1544 | 147.9772 | 155.56 | top 85% |
| Pork Ribs | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 167.3944 | 159.4172 | 163.84 | top 63% |
| Pork | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 157.6916 | 152.5600 | 154.85 | top 90% |
| Brisket | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 140.5260 | 139.3944 | 139.96 | top 97% |
“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 contest size
| Field | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small (<20 teams) | 2 | 0 | top 70% |
| Medium (20–39) | 2 | 0 | top 93% |
The story so far (17 numbers that describe this team)
On the trail
6.3 yrs
2017-07-08 → 2023-10-13
Busiest season
2023
1 contest
Contests a season
1
across 4 seasons in the data
Cooks most in
MO
4 of 4 contests
Contests visited
4
0 of them cooked more than once
Most-entered meat
Chicken
4 entries · 0 wins · 1 calls
Strongest meat
Pork Ribs
averages 163.84 · weakest Brisket (139.96)
Walk rate
25%
a top-10 call in 1 of 4 contests
Overall top-10 rate
25%
1 of 4 contests
Master average
616.76
out of 720 · 2 contests · 0 GCs
Backyard average
394.27
out of 360 · 2 contests · 0 GCs
Opponents faced
89
14–78 across every shared overall standing
Road miles
124
4 mapped stops · furthest 45 mi
Schedule strength
1563
average field rating faced — tougher than 49% of rated contests
Purse competed for
$6,425
listed at 2 contests — purses, not winnings
Longest layoff
4.2 yrs
2019-08-02 → 2023-10-13
Power rating
1474
peak 1474 · #null of 6,413 rated
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
- 2017
- First tracked contest Red White Blue and Que Presented by Lucas Oil Speedway
- Career-best single call (Pork Ribs)167.3944 Red White Blue and Que Presented by Lucas Oil Speedway
- Peak power rating (1489) Red White Blue and Que Presented by Lucas Oil Speedway
- 2018
- Career-best overall score619.8748 Laurie Hillbilly BBQ
- 2019
- First call Smokin on The Harbor (BACKYARD ONLY)
- First overall top-10 Smokin on The Harbor (BACKYARD ONLY)
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score326.8688 Smokin on The Harbor (BACKYARD ONLY)
- 2023
- Most recent contest Rock Island BBQ Competition (BACKYARD ONLY)
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +0.7 | Smokin on The Harbor (BACKYARD ONLY) | 2019-08-02 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -11.1 | Red White Blue and Que Presented by Lucas Oil Speedway | 2017-07-08 |
| -8.6 | Rock Island BBQ Competition (BACKYARD ONLY) | 2023-10-13 |
| -7.2 | Laurie Hillbilly BBQ | 2018-08-03 |
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)
Team of the Year rank by season
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 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 88% | 128.2% | 128.2% |
| 2019 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 53% | 90.8% | 90.8% |
| 2018 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 86% | 86.1% | 86.1% |
| 2017 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 100% | 85.2% | 85.2% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-10-13 | Rock Island BBQ Competition (BACKYARD ONLY) Stover, MO | 14 / 16 (461.6800) | 14 (147.9772) | 12 (159.4172) | 13 (154.2856) | — |
| 2019-08-02 | Smokin on The Harbor (BACKYARD ONLY) Warsaw, MO | 8 / 15 (326.8688) | 10 (161.1544) | 8 (165.7144) | — | — |
| 2018-08-03 | Laurie Hillbilly BBQ Laurie, MO | 30 / 35 (619.8748) | 30 (158.8228) | 24 (162.8344) | 32 (157.6916) | 33 (140.5260) |
| 2017-07-08 | Red White Blue and Que Presented by Lucas Oil Speedway Wheatland, MO | 31 / 31 (613.6460) | 31 (154.2972) | 17 (167.3944) | 30 (152.5600) | 31 (139.3944) |
Career map (orange GC · green top-10 · grey the rest — tap a pin)
Team of the Year standings (rank per category by season — year links to the full board on kcbs.us)
| Year | Series | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 ↗ | Master | #1954 (60 pts) | #2012 (60 pts) | #1976 (65 pts) | #2030 (60 pts) | #1990 (60 pts) |
| 2017 ↗ | Master | #2831 (56 pts) | #2839 (56 pts) | #2092 (96 pts) | #2831 (56 pts) | #2825 (56 pts) |