Tailgate Guys BBQ Show, Epsiode 99: Dr. BBQ, Richard Fergola, Rub Bagby
Release Date: 02/03/2021
Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast
We’re also thrilled when one of our past “Under the Radar” guests go on and accomplish big things in the competition world. Jacob Watt of the Kansas City-area team Smoke This Drink That told us back in February that winning a KCBS Masters Division Grand Championship was a goal in 2025. It was mission accomplished Aug. 16 when he and wife Paige celebrate their first GC with a whopping 710.85 total at the BBQ and Fly-In on the River in Excelsior Springs, Missouri. On Episode 320 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Jacob returns to tell us how he’s become one of the nation’s hottest teams...
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From his home base in Arizona, Sterling Smith has been all over the world cooking, teaching and promoting his BBQ and Loot ’n Booty product line. On Episode 319 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Sterling reviews the journey that included competition cooking since 2009 and recaps 2025 visits to Hawaii, New Zealand and Croatia among other stops and a busy fall schedule ahead with tickets punched to the Jack Daniel World BBQ Invitational and American Royal World Series of BBQ. We also talk it over with Charlie Wallace about the latest happenings at The Grill Guys of Missouri. Co-host...
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Jordan Kirkpatrick and Janky Leg BBQ recently passed the seven-year anniversary of their first KCBS competition, a 27th-place out of 30 teams in Effingham, Illinois. Jordan recalled being “lost, confused and disappointed" with the results. On Episode 318 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Jordan reflected on the humbling start and the road to becoming a world champion a years later. Janky Leg is still going strong and nearing the fall, when the team is always at its best. He also hits upon some interesting theories, including that you’re not cooking against the other competitors, but...
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The OG #GOATOFBBQ can still get it done. On Episode 317 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, we visit with BBQ Hall of Famer Darren Warth about his latest KCBS Grand Championship, this one bigger than most. It came last weekend at the Grand American Barbecue World Championship in Port Jervis, New York. The $15,000 prize was one of the bigger non-majors he’s won and the second GC in the last month for he and wife Sherry’s Iowa Smokey D’s team. Darren told us about feeling reinvigorated about competition BBQ these days and it sounds like the three-time American Royal World Series of BBQ Grand...
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When selected as one of 12 contestants for the Food Network program BBQ Brawl, Brad Leighninger of Nixa, Mo., said he just wanted to have fun and represent the competition BBQ world as best he could. Chalk it up as mission accomplished on both parts, plus a whole lot more. The pitmaster behind three-time (working on four-time) KCBS Team of the Year Gettin’ Basted made it all the way to the finale where he lost a tie-breaker with Georgia’s Kyle Bryner for Master of ‘Cue. On Episode 316 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Brad reflects on BBQ Brawl’s 10-episode journey from what it...
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The competition BBQ world was rocked late last week by the tragic news that Ercole Chila from Uncle Pigs Barbecue Pit from Paulsboro, N.J., had been killed in an automobile accident. Two of Ercole’s shining accomplishments on the competition trail was Uncle Pig’s 2022 KCBS Team of the Year award and the 2023 Jack Daniels World BBQ Invitational championship. But beyond the smoke and tasty proteins was a man who was a friend to so many across the land. On Episode 315 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast we visit with two of Ercole’s close BBQ friends, Mike Licciardello and Dave Travis. They...
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For Ashton Smith and Josh Farley, the idea of a BBQ restaurant and food truck seemed unlikely a couple of years ago. But after winning the Made for KC competition in 2023, earning naming rights to the BBQ restaurant in Kansas City International Airport for what turned out to be 18 months, the O.G. Bandits are more than a championship KCBS competition team - they’re now an award-winning restaurant with a retail line of rubs and sauces and perhaps bigger things are coming soon. On Episode 314 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Ashton tells us about a world-wide restaurant hospitality award the...
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Episode 313 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast takes us back “Under the Rader” to learn the story of an up-and-coming competition team. This time it’s Brant Champoux from Second Hand Smoke out of Oskaloosa, Iowa. Brant discusses his journey from the backyard division to taking on all four meats in 2025, with a terrific showing in his first KCBS competition of the season. There’s a terrific competition coming up in west-central Missouri. It’s the 7th annual Smokin’ on the Osage in Osceola with all the amenities a great contest needs. Chuck Simpson, who organizes the KCBS Masters and...
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We catch up with one of America’s elite competition pitmasters and proprietor of Kansas City’s top BBQ restaurant on Episode 312 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast. Joe Pearce of Slaps BBQ is fresh off a Grand Championship at the 159-team Great Lenexa BBQ Battle, his 47th career KCBS Grand Championship. A three-time runner-up in KCBS Team of the Year standings, Joe tells us why that contest is special to him and talks about his decision to scale back his competition schedule. He’s also a former competitor on the Food Network program BBQ Brawl and gives his take on Season 6 and buddy Brad...
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When you think of Oklahoma sports, you think of college with the Sooners or Cowboys and even Golden Hurricane. But these days, the Oklahoma City Thunder have turned the state into a pro basketball-frenzied state and to measure the enthusiasm we check in with Hall of Fame pit master Travis Clark of Clark Crew BBQ. Along with basketball, we visit with Travis about his restaurants, memories of his historic 2017 KCBS Team of the Year season and what he misses about the competition circuit. Charlie Wallace from The Grill Guys of Missouri has the latest from the area’s leading BBQ store,...
info_outlineOn Episode 99 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Show Podcast, we celebrate Super Sunday - which also has become America’s biggest food day - with some powerhouse guests coming to us from the epicenter of the football universe in the St. Petersburg-Tampa area.
First up from St. Pete is “Dr. BBQ” Ray Lampe, who tells us how the pandemic has slowed his normally hectic travel schedule and about the restaurant business in these unique times. Ray also gives us a game prediction (he would prefer his beloved Chicago Bears be in the big game) and some pointers on how to cook the perfect game-day chicken wing.
As the Chiefs chase a repeat championship, two championship pitmasters also are running back a big tailgating experience one year after Kansas City ruled the football world. Richard Fergola of Kansas City’s Fergolicious BBQ and Rub Bagby from Florida’s Swamp Boys BBQ are cooking up a feast Saturday and Sunday at Al Lang Stadium in St. Pete. Get the details as Fergie and Rub give us the party lowdown and trash talk a bit.
Meanwhile, co-hosts Lyndal and Steve make their picks and celebrate baseball after the Cardinals stole all-star third baseman Nolan Arenado from the Colorado Rockies.
A big shout-out to our sponsor/marketing partners: Blues Hog BBQ Sauce, Royal Oak Charcoal, The Butcher Shoppe, Affordable Income Tax & Payroll, DDR Fabrication and Arkassippi Smoke Live and The Arkassippi Combo. ADVISORY: We have room for two more sponsors. Email [email protected] for details.
Have a great BBQ Week!
#SmokeEmIfYouGotEm