We’re a group of co-workers and friends who work in St. Louis in various IT departments. We have members who have been smoking and BBQ’ing for years and some who just got started.
In September of 07, I (Shannon) got the team started by mentioning it at work, and recruiting team members for the first competition any of the members would be involved in, the 3rd Annual Smoke N Fire’s Ballwin BBQ Bash.
The team competed under the name of Q-Tech. We had myself and my wife Jen, Kris Steller, Bob Bufford, Mike Williams, Johnathan Sparks, Mark Merz, and Tony Sztukowski as team members that year. We were also blessed and had Jay and Lee Ann Potts (OkieJay and Wife from TheSmokeRing Forums join us and lend us their custom DPP Fat 40 since my new pit did not make it in on time for the competition.
The Q-Tech Team competed against 80 teams (roughly) on its first time out – we were SO green – thankfully Jay & Lee Ann were there to see us through it all and offer the guidance we needed to compete. Everyone gave it there all and we competed as best we could and cooked throughout the night, making our sauces at 2 am and keeping a watchful eye on Jay’s DPP to make sure temp was good. We came out looking great. We placed 1st in Pork, 5th in Ribs and 6th in Brisket – on our first time out! What a rush – I’ll never forget the feeling – ever. And to have all of those friends and family there to share in that joy is something you cannot explain or understand until you’ve been there.
We rejoiced in that win for months to come. We had follow up meetings of the team after the event to discuss what worked, what didn’t work and how to do it better in the future. Most team members were ready to take on another competition next year.
I didn’t stop there. Sunday became BBQ smoking day and I continue to practice smoking meat almost every Sunday without fail. Our team talks BBQ at work and we discuss things we try, things we want to try, things we’ve read etc etc. It’s more than a hobby, it’s something we share in at work and brings us together – just so happens it’s good food too. LOL!
Anyway – my wife, Jen, cut a kitchen P.O. back in Nov. ‘07 for a trailer smoker, since we couldn’t always be borrowing Jay’s from Oklahoma everytime we had a comp. So I contracted with a local welder and my new pit came home on Feb. 29 of 2008. It was a designed and built as a DPP clone but has a life and design all her own. My New Trailer Smoker Thread On TheSmokeRing Forums
We sold that pit in Jan. ‘09 and had D. Tilllery (MrCustomSteel from TheSmokeRing Forums) build us a new competition rig. We call her ‘The General’. You can see the build log here – Vexter1’s new comp build – Done!! 5-31-2009 Woo Hoo!!!! On TheSmokeRing Forums She has treated us well and has already started winning awards.
My good friend Jonathan Sparks came up with the H*QUE name and the rest of the team ran with the theme. Some of us were in the military, other were not, but it’s not about whether we were or not, the theme is meant to be fun and lighthearted like the team it represents. We’re serious about BBQ, but we’re even more serious about friendship, integrity and having fun. We play hard and try to earn respect everytime we go out to compete. If we have even half the fun we had at our first comp – we’re in for quite a great time!
–Shannon
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