How many contest do you cook?

[nautique1228]

Thinking about stepping up the number of competitions I do in a year. I went to KCBS website to see how many teams compete in x number of events. Also curious to how many some of the top teams cooked in, to get an idea of what it takes to compete for TOY. These are the numbers from KCBS in 2017

41 teams cooked > 25 contest (2962 total teams)

19 teams cooked 21-25 contest (2921 25 or less)

66 teams cooked 16-20 contest (2902 20 or less)

157 teams cooked 11-15 contest (2836 15 or less)

419 teams cooked 6-10 contest (2679 10 or less)

2260 teams cooked 5 or less

Clark Crew and Shake n Bake cooked over 40 contest

Im proud to say I cooked 5 contest last year and finished tied 11th in TOY standings in the 5 and under category!

Also a question for TOY standings, I assume they just take your top 10 contest and tie breaker down from there. Last year Travis won 14 and Tim won 12, one only having 34 teams causing the 1 pt loss. Brad won 7. 913 BBQ cooked 30 and won 4, finished 20th overall. So If you cooked and won 11 contest you would technically have a shot at TOY? Obviously not gonna happen but just saying you don't need to cook 40+ to approach TOY top 20? I guess getting a lot of second and thirds help in the tiebreaker format.

Do you guys like the way team of the year is setup? Hopefully Brad chimes in. Im assuming thats why they are setting up the NBBQL, to get away from cooking 40+ and trying to cook head to head against the best. The smaller format will give a better indicator than something like the Royal or the Jack which is more of a crapshoot.

 

[Cmikes]

I cooked 20 kcbs last year along with 9 in other sanctioning bodies and finished 15th overall. I can be done cooking 25, but it’s almost impossible. There’s an old saying... if you throw enough **** at the wall, some if it’s going to stick!

 

[gettinbasted]

Competition BBQ is like sales and each team has their "closing" percentage. You cook x number you will win y number. To increase your wins, you can increase the number of comps you cook or up your percentage. Travis had one of the greatest seasons ever and he won just under 30% of his contests. That is an outstanding percentage. By that math, to get to 10 wins Travis needs to cook 33 events this year.

If you assume 10 is the minimum number of wins needed (a safe assumption), realistically, a run at team of the year requires 40 plus comps and a 25% win percentage. So unless you plan on becoming better than one of the greatest of all time overnight, 40 is absolutely (and unfortunately) necessary.

People think, oh, I was only a couple hundred points out of winning it all, I'm going to go for it. What they don't get is how hard those last few points are to get. Take Tim for instance, he was driving around the country looking for another max point win that would have given him 1 measly point! seconds and thirds do not count. Max point wins are the name of the game.

If top 20 is your goal, that is another story. As Corey said, He cooked 20 and finished 15th overall, but his winning percentage was at 25%. Getting 4 or so wins to go along with a couple of reserves should get you in the top 20. So figure out your win percentage and that gives you an idea of how many events you need to do to accomplish your goal (A great cook like Corey can get it done in 17-20).

I think the TOY system is ridiculous, mostly because who we cook against does not matter. All that counts is that I find 35 team events and win them and I have as many tries as I have weekends to get it done. Bad results don't hurt me at all.

The NBBQL was formed as an initial attempt to settle it on the field, so to speak. We took the teams in order of finish in KCBS last year that wanted to be in. Did we get all the teams that deserve it? Not even close, but for this first year we could only handle 10. We plan on expanding it out next year and then integrate regions by year 3. This isn't a replacement for KCBS TOY, but it will provide another champion. I know which one I want to win

The concept of the NBBQL is simple. We want cooks to cook against each other to decide a champion, we want to market our teams and give the public a peek behind the scenes in our trailers and get them involved, and we want it to make sense for companies and organizers to invest in competition BBQ. The popularity of competition cooking in general and backyard outdoor cooking has never been higher, yet competition BBQ is in a state of retraction. I personally think it's a marketing issue. Hopefully this can help usher a new era of popularity for the "sport" we all love.

 

[Pappy Q]

2679 teams cooked less than 10 comps, 283 cooked more than 10. Seems those 2679 are what keep the sport going.

 

[Burnt at Both Endz]

I personally wish you guys well and am gratefully for your efforts, but I think the decline is the costs associated with competiting or at least it is for me.

 

[nautique1228]

I don’t think I’ll ever compete for TOY, just don’t have the time or resources, or talent lol, to do it. I’m planning on 10ish this year and see where that takes me. It would be cool to try for the top 20 and get in the NBBQL. I’ll be cooking at de Soto with you guys, we’ll see how it goes.

 

[gettinbasted]

I personally wish you guys well and am gratefully for your efforts, but I think the decline is the costs associated with competiting or at least it is for me.

Cost is a huge factor, no doubt about it!

 

[Ron_L]

The most that we have done is 16. Our typical year is 8-10, but last year crept up to 13 because of a couple of double headers.

Our limitation is more based on available vacation days. I switched jobs a year ago and only have 10 vacation days available, and we want to use 5 of those for an actual vacation :shock: :-D so that leaves 5 days to split between BBQ Competitions. So, we look for Saturday-Sunday comps (not too many around here) and we look for ones closer than 2 hours so I can work half a day.

While winning TOY would be amazing, we know that we just don't have the ability to cook enough for that, so we're happy cooking where we can and enjoying the company of our friends and meeting new teams.

 

[midwest_kc]

We've been under 10 for our entire time competing. We did 9 last year, and have a goal to do 15 this year. Realistically, that's where we're going to top out for a while. The costs associated with competing and the time off of work combine to make more than that unrealistic currently. I'm hopeful that will change in the future. I love competition BBQ and would do it every weekend if I could. A lot of doubleheaders, even. Now, if my Mega Millions hits....

 

[Untraceable]

just doing enough to keep the interest up and not get burned out/priced out until the kids are out of diapers and we can give it a go again.

Had the conversation about "can we do this on the cheap for the fun of it" and I don't think we can because of the time commitment. At this point, putting anything except 100% into our time, is a waste of time and effort.

 

[Blanton]

11-12 last year. Must say, I just about reached burn out since I cook alone. Will be less this year and back end loaded. (I think)

 

[Rusty Kettle]

Well we did 2 last year. None in 2016 and 3 in 2015. We aren't going to even try a TOY run. Cost is a huge factor. Was planning 4-5 this year but looks like it might not happen this year. I just got a new job. So my vacation time is going bye bye for this year.

We do have the Ironman next weekend. So at least one this year. We might add more if I can work it out.

 

[dr pearl]

We did 13 last year, which includes the Royal Inv. & Open. We finished at an even #100 in TOY.

 

[Candy Sue]

I've been pretty consistent in the 16-20 range of KCBS contests for over 10 years. After last fall's run for Fire & Ice, I'm tired. And I'm cooking like it this year (in other words, my food is sucking bad scores). I've done one IBCA, 3 KCBS and 3 SCA so far this year. I've paid the entry fee for one more, but I may be on a long break after that.

 

[Slamdunkpro]

We did 19 last year (won 5). That's about our limit.

 

[ArnieTex]

42 last year, 41 year before. 35 year before;
gonna back way off this year when summer rolls around.