The comeback
6.1 yrs
off the trail, then back
Off the trail for 6.1 years, then back at Smoke, Wind & Fire (2022-07-23).
- last seen 2016-06-03
- back 2022-07-23
Guardians of the Grill
At a glance (everything the results say about this team, in numbers)
Rating
1509
peak 1516 · rated over 2 contests ⓘ
Contests
4
in the data
First seen
2022-07-23
latest 2023-07-20
Grand champs
1
0 reserve
Category wins
1
2 podiums
Overall top-10s
2
of 4 contests
Avg finish
top 40%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
50%
contests with a top-10 call
Top-10 streak
2
and counting
Strongest meat
Pork
avg 170.85 · weakest Pork Ribs (150.54)
Road miles
1,331
mi across 4 mapped stops · furthest 1314 mi
Master avg
643.93 / 720
1 Master contest · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
328.55 / 360
1 Backyard contest · 1 GC
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.
Guardians of the Grill has 2 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 98 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.
#2877 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1516
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2018, 5 years before Guardians of the Grill's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head#2857 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1509
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#2879 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1520
No shared contest yet.
They were already cooking in 2013, 9 years before Guardians of the Grill's first contest.
⚔ Head-to-head#2875 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 40%
- Peak
- 1518
No shared contest yet.
Level with Guardians of the Grill on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Head-to-head#2878 of the rated field
- Contests
- 8
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1508
No shared contest yet.
A longer road to the same neighbourhood — 8 contests to 4.
⚔ Head-to-head#2874 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 17%
- Peak
- 1519
No shared contest yet.
A longer road to the same neighbourhood — 6 contests to 4.
⚔ Head-to-headBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 174.2972 | 165.1084 | 169.70 | top 26% |
| Pork Ribs | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 163.4400 | 137.6456 | 150.54 | top 53% |
| Pork | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 170.8456 | 170.8456 | 170.85 | top 50% |
| Brisket | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 161.1428 | 161.1428 | 161.14 | top 83% |
“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) | 1 | 0 | top 75% |
| Medium (20–39) | 1 | 1 | top 5% |
The story so far (18 numbers that describe this team)
On the trail
1 yrs
2022-07-23 → 2023-07-20
Busiest season
2023
1 contest
Contests a season
1
across 4 seasons in the data
Cooks most in
IL
2 of 4 contests · 2 states/provinces in all
Contests visited
2
0 of them cooked more than once
Most-entered meat
Chicken
2 entries · 0 wins · 2 calls
Strongest meat
Pork
averages 170.85 · weakest Pork Ribs (150.54)
Walk rate
50%
a top-10 call in 2 of 4 contests
Overall top-10 rate
50%
2 of 4 contests
Wins it all
25%
1 Grand Championship · 0 reserve
First title
2022-07-23
Smoke, Wind & Fire
Best top-10 run
2
straight contests — and still running
Master average
643.93
out of 720 · 1 contest · 0 GCs
Backyard average
328.55
out of 360 · 1 contest · 1 GC
Opponents faced
30
26–8 across every shared overall standing
Road miles
1,331
4 mapped stops · furthest 1,314 mi
Longest layoff
6.1 yrs
2016-06-03 → 2022-07-23
Power rating
1509
peak 1516 · #null of 6,413 rated
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
- 2015
- First tracked contest Up In Smoke On The Square
- 2022
- First call Smoke, Wind & Fire
- First category win (Pork Ribs) Smoke, Wind & Fire
- First overall top-10 Smoke, Wind & Fire
- First overall podium Smoke, Wind & Fire
- First Grand Championship Smoke, Wind & Fire
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score328.5484 Smoke, Wind & Fire
- 2023
- Career-best overall score643.9312 Smoke, Wind & Fire
- Career-best single call (Chicken)174.2972 Smoke, Wind & Fire
- Most recent contest Smoke, Wind & Fire
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)
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 75% | 89.4% | 89.4% |
| 2022 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 100% | top 5% | 91.3% | 91.3% |
| 2016 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
| 2015 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-07-20 | Smoke, Wind & Fire Raymond, AB | 9 / 12 (643.9312) | 5 (174.2972) | 12 (137.6456) | 6 (170.8456) | 10 (161.1428) |
| 2022-07-23 | Smoke, Wind & Fire Lethbridge, T1J4R3 | 1 / 20 (328.5484) | 2 (165.1084) | 1 (163.4400) | — | — |
| 2016-06-03 | Up In smoke on the Square Lincoln, IL | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2015-06-05 | Up In Smoke On The Square Lincoln, IL | — | — | — | — | — |