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The American Royal 2005
By Dan Cannon
DEPARTURE / ARRIVAL
Todd Eves, team owner and captain of "Team Simple Green" was kind enough
to invite myself (Dan Cannon) Noel Van Herk, Kevin Graf, and Brent & Kim
Walton to stay in his RV, cook on his equipment, and be participants of
Team Simple Green’s go at the American Royal Open.
Most of us delivered our camping and cooking requirements / luggage to
Todd in advance of the trip. He then packed it for us in his 5th Wheel
RV prior to departure. He left for Kansas City Monday, 4:00 am,
September 26th, with his traveling partner Noel planning on a Wednesday
arrival at the Kemper Arena, Kansas City, MO.
Brent, Kim, Kevin, and I were flying in on Thursday. We all arrived
about the same time in the afternoon. Brent and Kim were cooking on
Todd's pit for the Invitational Cook-Off as Team QN4U and needed to go
get supplies for the immediate preparations required upon arrival. Their
meat entries were due the next morning, Friday. Kevin and I arrived a
bit later, by 5:00 pm and got to just relax a bit with Todd and Noel and
enjoy the atmosphere of the Royal a bit. After all, Team Simple Green's
entries were not due till the day-after, Saturday morning.
INVITATIONAL BBQ CONTEST (Best of the Best), 81 Teams
We assisted Brent & Kim any way we could for the Invitational but
that was very little. They literally did everything themselves and did
an excellent job at that. As was proven per their results:
Team QN4U, Invitational (the Best of the Best) ,
16th OVERALL
30th Chicken
10th Ribs
40th Pork
21st Brisket
FRIDAY NIGHT (Party Night)
Well, imagine 70,000 people at one facility just going from one
Cook-site to the other, in party mode. There were 467 competing teams in
the Open and 81 in the Invitational. All had large to small sites. Many
had a band, bar, dance floor, catered food, and bouncer. There were many
corporate sponsors. So, all in all, it was probably the biggest party I
have ever been to. It is not the typical type party one would see in
California. I think it would be considered to "politically incorrect".
Anyway, Brent and Kim were feeling fantastic after their great showing,
we were all in a relaxed mode, and Todd and crew were handing out Simple
Green samples. Kathleen & Kelley McIntosch stopped by for an interview
with Brent and Kim. After some revelry and celebration some of us
decided to take a trip through both lot B (the Invitational lot) and lot
A (the Open/Dark side). That definitely makes the whole trip complete.
One can visit with and congratulate other participants, stop and visit
old friends, and see what a REAL party is like. It was great.
About 10:00 we started heading back to our site and they started the fireworks.
That was a great show that went on for close to an hour. Much longer
than past years. What a great evening. The team next to us had a band
that imitated the Rolling Stones. They were fantastic and played
at least 4 hours.
OPEN BBQ CONTEST, 467 Teams
However, with all good things comes work. This was the night that all
Open teams had to get their meat prepared and cooking. We had lots of
turn-ins the next morning. Brent & Kim did most of the sides, and then
we all did the meats. We had the following turn-in schedule:
- Vegetables, 10:30 - Kim and Brent did a fantastic Corn dish
- Beans, 11:00 - Brent and Kim did beans, I slightly assisted
- Potatoes, 11:30 - Kim made up a great fried Potato Roll
- Chicken, 12:00 - Brent provided his championship input / method
- Ribs, 12:30 - Again, Brent provided his championship input / method
- Pork, 01:00 - Everybody lent a helping hand
- Brisket, 01:30 - Todd did his fantastic Brisket as usual
- Sausage, 02:00 - I did my best, but had to borrow sausage from another team
(another story)
- Desert, 02:30 - Kim did a fantastic Chocolate Mousse w/ sliced Peach
and Strawberry
Everybody helped the best they could in all areas. Noel was our product
runner, worked with the fires, and did an excellent job keeping things
organized and helping everybody with everything. Todd of course, who owns Brisket in
California, did his fantastic job on Brisket, slicing, and turn-in and
being a GREAT Team Captain.
Overall we were all excited about our products and held great hopes for
a good showing.
We all relaxed after everything was turned in. It just started to
sprinkle a bit and we all got under shelter waiting for the awards.
Kathleen and Kelley came by and hung out a bit and we all chit-chatted
about how everything went overall. The consensus was it was a
great time and event for everybody.
Awards started at 6:30 pm. We all went to the bleachers in the Kemper
Arena and awaited the long presentation process. Much to our surprise
they started handing out the awards immediately! In past years it takes
an hour to get past the sauce awards and onto the meat and side
categories, so this was a pleasant surprise. And, as you probably
already know, Team Simple Green hit the stage for 11th in Ribs. What a
GREAT moment for everybody. After all, with 467 teams entered a trip to the stage was only hoped for. As Frank Boyer succinctly put it, "If
you go to the stage for anything but sweeping the floor, it is
fantastic"! Also, this year they called the top 20
versus the top 10, as in previous years. Anyway, our scores are listed
below:
Team Simple Green in the Open scored the following:
137/467 - OVERALL
50/259 - SIDES OVERALL
86/183, Vegetables, 10:30 - Kim and Brent did a fantastic Corn
dish
114/207, Beans, 11:00 - Brent and Kim did beans, I slightly
assisted
14/156, Potatoes, 11:30 - Kim made up a great fried Potato Roll
259/467, Chicken, 12:00 - Brent provided his championship input /
method
11/467, Ribs, 12:30 - Brent provided his championship input /
method
273/467, Pork, 1:00 - Everybody lent a helping hand
229/467, Brisket, 1:30 - Todd his fantastic Brisket as usual
207/225, Sausage, 2:00 - I did my best, we borrowed sausage from another
team (another story)
67/125, Desert, 2:30 - Kim did a fantastic Chocolate Mouse w/
fruit
SUNDAY AND DEPARTURE
Todd got up early, 05:00 am, and took Kevin to the airport to fly back to
L.A. It was raining HARD the whole trip to and from.
We all got up a few hours later and the weather was perfect. It had
cleared up and we just relaxed a bit and had a nice toast and egg
breakfast that Todd and Noel prepared.
After a bit Brent suggested that we all go to the original Arthur
Bryant's BBQ restaurant for lunch. That was a great treat for me. I
think of it as going to the "Holy Grail" of BBQ Restaurants. I enjoyed
the food and ambiance and everything about it. Brent & Kim and I flew
home Sunday afternoon. Todd and Noel hit the road hauling all the
hardware back.
THANKS A BUNCH TODD & ESPECIALLY
SIMPLE GREEN
For doing all the hard work, putting the team together, and letting us
be a part of it!!! That is a BIG job, time consuming, and expensive
towing the large 5th Wheel RV with a BBQ trailer behind from California
to Kansas City and back!!! I feel guilty of not doing too much
facilitation as all I did was fly in Thursday afternoon and fly
home Sunday.
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