High-water mark
681.6576
career-best overall
94.7% of a perfect 720
Their best day on record: 681.6576 at Saluting with Smoke (COMPETITOR'S SERIES) — 94.7% of a perfect 720.
- Competitor Series
- Nov 5, 2021
Plumber Q
Plumber Q is a competition barbecue team with 8 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2017 and 2023. Their best overall finish is 3rd of 18 at the Saluting with Smoke (COMPETITOR'S SERIES) (2021). They finished #2212 in the 2017 Master Series Team of the Year standings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1503
Unranked — needs 5 rated contests, has 44 invitational or side-series contests not counted
Contests
8
in the data
First seen
Aug 19, 2017
latest Sep 15, 2023 · 6.1 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
1 podium
Overall top-10s
3
38% of 8 contests
Best top-10 run
2
straight overall top-10s
Avg finish
top 53%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
50%
contests with a top-10 call
Best single call
171.4288
Strongest meat
Pork Ribs
avg 159.41 · weakest Pork (151.67)
Road miles
120
across 6 mapped stops · furthest 35 mi
Schedule strength
27%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1537)
Purse competed for
$26K
listed at 6 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 1 state-championship entry
Master avg
606.31 / 720
1 Master contest · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
321.10 / 360
2 Backyard contests · 0 GCs
Backyard (3-meat) avg
471.33 / 540
1 Backyard (3-meat) contest · 0 GCs
These overall scores sit on different scales (Master out of 720, 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.
Team of the Year (rank per category by season — the year links to the full board on kcbs.us)
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to Plumber Q, each with one reason worth a look.
Plumber Q 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 123 rated teams sit within a point of it.
#3,129 of the rated field
- Contests
- 17
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 24%
- Peak
- 1533
1–1 in 2 shared contests (50% to Plumber Q)
2 contests in common so far: too few to settle anything, but a team Plumber Q has actually stood beside rather than a stranger on the same rating.
⚔ Head-to-head#3,132 of the rated field
- Contests
- 38
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 11%
- Peak
- 1580
1–0 in 1 shared contest (100% to Plumber Q)
They've been 1580 at their best, 77 points above where they sit today — they're arriving at this rating from above.
⚔ Head-to-head#3,095 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1514
Fewer contests behind them than Plumber Q has cooked, 5 to 8, which makes theirs the less settled rating of the two.
⚔ Compare careers#3,102 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 40%
- Peak
- 1511
Level with Plumber Q on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#3,112 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1506
Their last contest in the data was back in 2019, 4 years before Plumber Q's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#3,097 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 40%
- Peak
- 1507
Their last contest in the data was back in 2017, 6 years before Plumber Q'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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HOT EMBERS BBQ | 5 | 3 | 2 | 60% | ⚔ compare |
| RUBY CREEK BBQ | 5 | 2 | 3 | 40% | ⚔ compare |
| SI2 BBQ | 5 | 2 | 3 | 40% | ⚔ compare |
| PORKRASTINATORS | 5 | 1 | 4 | 20% | ⚔ compare |
By meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 8 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 171.4288 | 147.9544 | 158.32 | top 60% |
| Pork Ribs | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 171.4172 | 149.6572 | 159.41 | top 53% |
| Pork | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 155.9316 | 147.4056 | 151.67 | top 75% |
| Brisket | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 157.1656 | 157.1656 | 157.17 | top 36% |
“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 26% |
| Medium (20–39) | 5 | 0 | top 65% |
| Large (40+) | 1 | 0 | top 50% |
Repeat visits (contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saluting with Smoke (COMPETITOR'S SERIES) | 2 | 3 | 0 | top 26% | Sep 15, 2023 |
More numbers
Busiest season
—
2 contests
Contests a season
1.3
across 6 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
IL
8 of 8 contests
Contests visited
7
1 of them more than once
Opponents faced
178
finished ahead 112 times, behind 145
Longest layoff
2.5 yrs
May 24, 2019 → Nov 5, 2021
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20231 milestone
- Most recent contest Saluting with Smoke (COMPETITOR'S SERIES)
20222 milestones
- Career-best single call (Chicken)171.4288 Westmont Red White & BBQ Backyard BBQ Cook-Off 2022 (BACKYARD ONLY)
- Peak power rating (1509) Westmont Red White & BBQ Backyard BBQ Cook-Off 2022 (BACKYARD ONLY)
20215 milestones
- First call Saluting with Smoke (COMPETITOR'S SERIES)
- First overall top-10 Saluting with Smoke (COMPETITOR'S SERIES)
- First overall podium Saluting with Smoke (COMPETITOR'S SERIES)
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score681.6576 Saluting with Smoke (COMPETITOR'S SERIES)
- Career-best overall score681.6576 Saluting with Smoke (COMPETITOR'S SERIES)
—1 milestone
- First tracked contest Saluting with Smoke-Yorkville (COMPETITOR'S SERIES)
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +12.7 | Westmont Red White & BBQ Backyard BBQ Cook-Off 2022 (BACKYARD ONLY) | May 28, 2022 |
| +1.5 | Red, White, and BBQ Day 1 | May 24, 2019 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -5.8 | Westmont Red White & BBQ (BACKYARD ONLY) | May 27, 2023 |
| -5.7 | McHenry Rotary Blues Brews & BBQ | Aug 19, 2017 |
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 82% | 88.6% | 87.4% |
| 2023 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 53% | 94.3% | 90.8% |
| 2022 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 14% | 92.9% | 92.9% |
| 2021 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 17% | 94.7% | 94.7% |
| 2019 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 50% | 85.5% | 85.5% |
| 2017 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 75% | 84.2% | 84.2% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 15, 2023 | Saluting with Smoke (COMPETITOR'S SERIES) unrated Yorkville, IL | 6 / 17 (678.7888) | 11 (166.2516) | 6 (171.4172) | — | — |
| May 27, 2023 | Westmont Red White & BBQ (BACKYARD ONLY) Westmont, IL | 24 / 34 (471.3260) | 30 (147.9544) | 10 (167.4400) | 23 (155.9316) | — |
| May 28, 2022 | Westmont Red White & BBQ Backyard BBQ Cook-Off 2022 (BACKYARD ONLY) Westmont, IL | 4 / 28 (334.2976) | 3 (171.4288) | 7 (162.8688) | — | — |
| Nov 5, 2021 | Saluting with Smoke (COMPETITOR'S SERIES) unrated Yorkville, IL | 3 / 18 (681.6576) | 9 (162.8344) | 7 (165.6916) | — | — |
| May 24, 2019 | Red, White, and BBQ Day 1 🏅 Westmont, IL | 20 / 40 (307.9084) | 22 (153.0512) | 21 (154.8572) | — | — |
| Aug 19, 2017 | McHenry Rotary Blues Brews & BBQ McHenry, IL | 27 / 36 (606.3084) | 30 (149.1656) | 26 (152.5716) | 30 (147.4056) | 13 (157.1656) |
| — | Saluting With Smoke (COMPETITORS SERIES) unrated Yorkville, IL | 33 / 38 (465.5656) | 15 (163.9656) | 33 (150.8000) | — | — |
| — | Saluting with Smoke-Yorkville (COMPETITOR'S SERIES) unrated Yorkville, IL | 17 / 22 (637.5660) | 20 (151.9428) | 18 (149.6572) | — | — |
An unrated contest — an invitational, or a Competitor or Kosher Series board — is in the record but doesn’t move the power rating.