Tailgate Guys BBQ Show, Episode 16: Sterling Smith
Release Date: 05/08/2019
Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Episode 321: Gabe Trevino
Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast
On Episode 321 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, we talk it over with one of the nation’s hottest competition pit masters. Gabe Trevino and Smokin’ Volts BBQ of Fontana, California is coming off a Grand Championship over Labor Day Weekend at the star-studded Meat & Tater BBQ Fest in Boise, Idaho. Gabe scored a 707.9 total, edging out Gettin’ Basted and one of his mentors, Brad Leighninger, for top honors. It was Smokin’ Volts’ second straight GC and fifth in seven events since June 1. Gabe reviews his BBQ background and what it feels like to be on a roll - especially in the...
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Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Episode 320: Jacob Watt, Joshua Brock
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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Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Episode 319: Sterling Smith
Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast
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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Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Episode 318: Jordan Kirkpatrick
Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast
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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Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Episode 317: Darren Warth
Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast
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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Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Episode 316: Brad Leighninger
Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast
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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Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Episode 315: Ercole Chila tribute
Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast
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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Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Epsiode 314: Ashton Smith with O.G. Bandits
Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast
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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Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Episode 313: Brant Champoux, Chuck Simpson
Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast
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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Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Episode 312: Joe Pearce, Skyler Spartan
Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast
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...
info_outlineWelcome to Episode 16 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Show Podcast. We hope everyone is having a great week and getting outside to cook up some great ‘Q’ as National BBQ Month gets into full swing.
Our featured guest this week is Sterling Smith of Scottsdale, Arizona’s Loot’n Booty BBQ. Sterling not only is a world-class competition pitmaster, he teaches classes all over the world, has a great line of Loot’n Booty rubs and sauces and is simply an all-around great guy. On this week’s show, Sterling tells about how he went from serving in the United States Navy to working in the banking industry and into full-time BBQ.
This week’s “Under the Radar” segment takes us to Huntsville, Alabama and Rob Nelson of the backyard team Beer Pressure. You might have seen Rob - who’s a one-man team - and Stanley, his Great Dane, on the Destination America television show “Bama Q” which returns for season three this fall.
If you’re in mid-Missouri this Saturday, there’s an outstanding first-time benefit BBQ event in Columbia to help the Firefighter Cancer Support Network and the Missouri Firefighter's Museum. Firefighter and event organizer Jeff Strawn fills us in.
The guys also chat about invading the Memphis in May World BBQ Championship and horses changing lanes without signaling at the Kentucky Derby, along with Mother’s Day cooking plans.
Thanks for listening! Have a great BBQ Week!