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TAILGATE WARRIORS
TAILGATE WARRIORS is a competition barbecue team with 8 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2015 and 2023. They have won 1 Grand Championship, at the UMB's Smokin' Vault (COMPETITOR SERIES) (2023).
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At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating 1496
Unranked — needs 5 rated contests, has 44 invitational or side-series contests not counted
First seen May 1, 2015
latest Sep 27, 2023 · 8.4 years on the trail
Grand champs 1
0 reserve · wins it all 13% of the time
Overall top-10s 2
25% of 8 contests
Avg finish top 70%
overall standings
Best overall 623.9772 / 720
Current form 611.76
last 5 Master vs avg 611.55 (+0.20)
Walk rate 88%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency ±11.84
spread of their Master overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat Pork Ribs
avg 154.02 · weakest Chicken (150.54)
Road miles 11
across 8 mapped stops
Schedule strength 31%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1542)
Purse competed for $76K
listed at 1 contest — purses, not winnings
State championships 0 🏅
won from 1 state-championship entry
Master avg 611.55 / 720
7 Master contests · 1 GC
Storylines (9 found in their record)
Each card leads with the number behind the story, straight from their results.
🃏
Against the odds
21-in-100
shot on pre-contest ratings
The ratings favoured the top seed the other 79 times in 100
Their Grand Championship at UMB's Smokin' Vault (COMPETITOR SERIES) (May 12, 2023) came as the ratings underdog — roughly a 21-in-100 shot against the field's top-rated team, Smoke-A-Holics
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A multi-meat day
1
contest with 2+ category wins
They've won two or more meats on the same day 1 time — the best of them 2 category wins at UMB's Smokin' Vault (COMPETITOR SERIES) (May 12, 2023).
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They almost always walk
88%
of contests with a top-10 call
A call in 7 of 8 contests
A top-10 category call in 88% of their 8 contests — they get to the stage more often than not.
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A tough matchup
7–0
behind in the head-to-head
PARK AVENUE PORK ahead in 100% of their meetings
PARK AVENUE PORK
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A strong matchup
3–0
ahead in the head-to-head
Ahead in 100% of their meetings
They've finished ahead of MAD SMOKERS
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The comeback
3 yrs
off the trail, then back
Off the trail for 3 years , then back at UMB Smokin Vault BBQ Contest - Competitor's Series (May 6, 2022).
last seen May 3, 2019 back May 6, 2022
😤
Pork Ribs nemesis
7 of 7
shared pork ribs entries lost
PARK AVENUE PORK ahead 100% of the time
Even in their strongest meat, PARK AVENUE PORK 7 of 7 shared pork ribs entries.
Show 2 more storylines
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The metronome
±1.87%
swing around their own average
Their overall lands within ±1.87% of a perfect score of their own average — whatever the field, you know roughly what they'll turn in.
averages 84.5% of a perfect score 8 contests
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A standing appointment
4
years running at one contest
They've cooked UMB Smokin' Vault (Competitors Invitational Only Series) every year from 2015 to 2018 — the contest they never miss.
4 visits in all best finish 10th
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Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to TAILGATE WARRIORS, each with one reason worth a look.
TAILGATE WARRIORS has 4 rated contests, short of the five a power ranking needs, so its rating is still close to the 1500 every team starts on and 120 rated teams sit within a point of it.
MARBURG BROTHERS BBQ
#3,358 of the rated field
1496
power rating
Contests 33
GCs 0
Top-10s 6%
Peak 1502
0–1 in 1 shared contest (0% to TAILGATE WARRIORS)
One contest in common so far: too few to settle anything, but a team TAILGATE WARRIORS has actually stood beside rather than a stranger on the same rating.
⚔ Head-to-head
MY 3 SONS BARBEQUE MO
#3,383 of the rated field
1496
power rating
Contests 65
GCs 0
Top-10s 18%
Peak 1593
0–1 in 1 shared contest (0% to TAILGATE WARRIORS)
They've been 1593 at their best, 98 points above where they sit today — they're arriving at this rating from above.
⚔ Head-to-head
Paca Crew BBQ
#3,378 of the rated field
1496
power rating
Contests 5
GCs 0
Top-10s 20%
Peak 1507
Fewer contests behind them than TAILGATE WARRIORS has cooked, 5 to 8, which makes theirs the less settled rating of the two.
⚔ Compare careers
Laytons backyard bbq
#3,372 of the rated field
1496
power rating
Contests 5
GCs 0
Top-10s 20%
Peak 1496
They turned up 6 years after TAILGATE WARRIORS did, first appearing in 2021.
⚔ Compare careers
SILENCE OF THE HAMS BBQ TEAM
#3,368 of the rated field
1496
power rating
Contests 5
GCs 0
Top-10s 0%
Peak 1502
Level with TAILGATE WARRIORS on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers
Slim D's
#3,373 of the rated field
1496
power rating
Contests 5
GCs 0
Top-10s 0%
Peak 1505
Their last contest in the data was back in 2020, 3 years before TAILGATE WARRIORS's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers
Familiar foes (most-met opponents in overall standings — one meeting per contest)
By meat
“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) 5 1 top 73% Medium (20–39) 2 0 top 53% Large (40+) 1 0 top 93%
By state / province (where the contests were held)
Where Contests GCs Avg finish
MO 7 1 top 67% KS 1 0 top 93%
Repeat visits (contests they've cooked twice or more)
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More numbers
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Busiest season
2023
2 contests · 1 GC
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Contests a season
1.1
across 7 seasons in the data
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Most contests held in
MO
7 of 8 contests · 2 states in all
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Contests visited
5
1 of them more than once
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First title
May 12, 2023
UMB's Smokin' Vault (COMPETITOR SERIES)
⚔️
Opponents faced
542
finished ahead 68 times, behind 521
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Longest layoff
3 yrs
May 3, 2019 → May 6, 2022
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
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 2 1 1 2
50%
top 57%
86.7%
86.3%
2022 1 0 0 0
100%
top 100%
81.7%
81.7%
2019 1 0 0 0
100%
top 94%
81.7%
81.7%
2018 1 0 0 0
100%
top 79%
85.1%
85.1%
2017 1 0 0 0
100%
top 71%
85.4%
85.4%
2016 1 0 0 0
100%
top 63%
83.5%
83.5%
2015 1 0 1 0
100%
top 43%
86.3%
86.3%
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Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
Date Event Overall Chicken Ribs Pork Brisket
Sep 27, 2023
American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Open Contest 🏅 Kansas City, KS 454 / 487 (618.6860) 454 (152.5716) 450 (153.0744) 312 (164.5600) 458 (148.4800)
May 12, 2023
UMB's Smokin' Vault (COMPETITOR SERIES) Kansas City, MO 1 / 5 (623.9772) 5 (133.6800) 3 (153.1200) 1 (176.5944) 1 (160.5828)
May 6, 2022
UMB Smokin Vault BBQ Contest - Competitor's Series Kansas City, MO 12 / 12 (587.8972) 10 (147.3828) 11 (146.2288) 11 (152.5828) 12 (141.7028)
May 3, 2019
UMB Smokin Vault BBQ Contest (Invitational Competitor's Series) unrated Kansas City, MO 15 / 16 (588.4004) 10 (161.1316) 14 (146.7656) 16 (136.5372) 13 (143.9660)
May 4, 2018
UMB Smokin' Vault (Competitors Invitational Only Series) unrated Kansas City, MO 11 / 14 (613.0060) 13 (151.9544) 8 (161.0972) 13 (150.2628) 10 (149.6916)
May 5, 2017
UMB Smokin' Vault (Competitors Invitational Series) unrated Kansas City, MO 12 / 17 (615.2116) 13 (147.9316) 10 (157.0972) 13 (153.6800) 8 (156.5028)
May 6, 2016
UMB Smokin' Vault (Competitors Invitational Series) unrated Kansas City, MO 15 / 24 (601.0284) 8 (161.0972) 15 (148.5372) 22 (133.7256) 7 (157.6684)
May 1, 2015
UMB Smokin' Vault (Competitor's Series) Kansas City, MO 10 / 23 (621.0628) 17 (148.5600) 3 (166.2744) 13 (156.0112) 15 (150.2172)
An unrated contest — an invitational, or a Competitor or Kosher Series board — is in the record but doesn’t move the power rating.
Career map (orange GC · green top-10 · grey the rest — tap a pin)
✕
☕
Hey, I’m Ross
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