High-water mark
677.6228
career-best overall
94.1% of a perfect 720
Their best day on record: 677.6228 at The Great Lenexa BBQ Battle - Kansas State Championship — 94.1% of a perfect 720.
- Master
- Jun 26, 2026
Open Flame BBQ
Open Flame BBQ is a competition barbecue team with 5 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2025 and 2026. Their best overall finish is 33rd of 33 at the Meat Inferno (2026). They are ranked #4271 of 6,476 teams in the KCBS power rankings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1477
peak 1477 · rated over 5 contests
Contests
5
in the data
First seen
Mar 21, 2025
latest Sep 11, 2026 · 1.5 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
0 podiums
Overall top-10s
0
0% of 5 contests
Avg finish
top 74%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
0%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±21.15
spread of their Master overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Brisket
avg 166.24 · weakest Pork Ribs (150.00)
Road miles
52
across 5 mapped stops
Schedule strength
51%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1566)
Purse competed for
$57K
listed at 5 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 5 state-championship entries
Master avg
642.81 / 720
5 Master contests · 0 GCs
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 Open Flame BBQ, each with one reason worth a look.
135 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
#4,277 of the rated field
- Contests
- 9
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1477
1–3 in 4 shared contests (25% to Open Flame BBQ)
These two have cooked 4 of the same contests — JayHawgs BBQ ahead 3–1 — so there's a record behind this pairing and not just a matching number.
⚔ Head-to-head#4,266 of the rated field
- Contests
- 18
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 6%
- Peak
- 1477
0–1 in 1 shared contest (0% to Open Flame BBQ)
This is the highest they've ever been rated, 18 rated contests in — a team sitting at its own career peak.
⚔ Head-to-head#4,268 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1477
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 5, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#4,274 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1477
Their last contest in the data was back in 2022, 4 years before Open Flame BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#4,297 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1503
They were already cooking in 2015, 10 years before Open Flame BBQ's first contest.
⚔ Compare careers#4,275 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1477
Level with Open Flame BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careersFamiliar foes (most-met opponents in overall standings — one meeting per contest)
| Opponent | Meetings | Ahead | Behind | Win rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aww Shucks BBQ | 5 | 1 | 4 | 20% | ⚔ compare |
| Squealin N Dealin BBQ | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0% | ⚔ compare |
By meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 166.8344 | 155.9428 | 162.15 | top 74% |
| Pork Ribs | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 165.7028 | 119.3372 | 150.00 | top 82% |
| Pork | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 173.1084 | 156.5372 | 164.42 | top 66% |
| Brisket | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 171.9772 | 161.6456 | 166.24 | top 53% |
“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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medium (20–39) | 1 | 0 | top 100% |
| Large (40+) | 4 | 0 | top 68% |
Repeat visits (contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Great Lenexa BBQ Battle - Kansas State Championship | 2 | 33 | 0 | top 45% | Jun 26, 2026 |
More numbers
Busiest season
2026
3 contests
Contests a season
2.5
across 2 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
KS
5 of 5 contests
Contests visited
4
1 of them more than once
Opponents faced
288
finished ahead 186 times, behind 296
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20264 milestones
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score648.4688 8th Annual Qlathe BBQ Championship
- Career-best overall score677.6228 The Great Lenexa BBQ Battle - Kansas State Championship
- Career-best single call (Pork)173.1084 The Great Lenexa BBQ Battle - Kansas State Championship
- Most recent contest Meat Inferno
20252 milestones
- First tracked contest 7th Annual Qlathe BBQ Championship
- Peak power rating (1490) 7th Annual Qlathe BBQ Championship
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +11.5 | The Great Lenexa BBQ Battle - Kansas State Championship | Jun 26, 2026 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -11.8 | Meat Inferno | Sep 11, 2026 |
| -9.7 | 7th Annual Qlathe BBQ Championship | Mar 21, 2025 |
| -7.8 | 8th Annual Qlathe BBQ Championship | Mar 20, 2026 |
| -4.9 | The Great Lenexa BBQ Battle - Kansas State Championship | Jun 27, 2025 |
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 69% | 94.1% | 89.7% |
| 2025 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 82% | 88.9% | 88.6% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 11, 2026 | Meat Inferno 🏅 Edgerton, KS | 33 / 33 (612.3428) | 31 (161.0972) | 33 (119.3372) | 18 (170.2628) | 28 (161.6456) |
| Jun 26, 2026 | The Great Lenexa BBQ Battle - Kansas State Championship 🏅 Lenexa, KS | 33 / 157 (677.6228) | 60 (166.8344) | 74 (165.7028) | 30 (173.1084) | 21 (171.9772) |
| Mar 20, 2026 | 8th Annual Qlathe BBQ Championship 🏅 Olathe, KS | 59 / 68 (648.4688) | 56 (164.5944) | 61 (157.0972) | 62 (160.5256) | 38 (166.2516) |
| Jun 27, 2025 | The Great Lenexa BBQ Battle - Kansas State Championship 🏅 Lenexa, KS | 110 / 159 (640.4344) | 99 (162.2972) | 131 (155.3716) | 125 (156.5372) | 66 (166.2284) |
| Mar 21, 2025 | 7th Annual Qlathe BBQ Championship 🏅 Olathe, KS | 66 / 70 (635.1772) | 67 (155.9428) | 65 (152.4916) | 61 (161.6572) | 50 (165.0856) |