Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Who We Are...

written by Neal
The Dodge County Smokers BBQ team was established in the summer of 2005. We are Neal Dunker and Chris Nickelson. By chance we became neighbors in Mission, KS when we moved into houses that had backyards facing each other.

Some time later I entered a BBQ contest just a few blocks away at the Mission Community Center. It was a small, unsanctioned event, but I was in way over my head. Chris stopped by to check it out and visit and ended up staying and lending a big hand. We ended up finishing 4th overall and even scored a 4th place ribbon in brisket. I was hooked on competition BBQ and Chris was ready to jump in too. We formed a team and cooked in five more contests in 2005, even winning a few ribbons along the way.

We had a few team name changes along the way, but settled on Dodge County Smokers - named for the county in Nebraska where I grew up and where my dad, Richard Dunker, designed and built our cooker after attending that first contest in Mission. He figured he could do a better job building a cooker than the others he saw at that contest, and he was right.

I am starting this blog to document our 2008 BBQ season. I am really looking forward to it as we'll be cooking some different events for us and we have qualified for some exciting invitation-only contests. I invite you to follow along. It should be quite a ride.

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