Sparks Will Fly in Nevada Rib Cook-Off : Barbecue: This weekend will witness one of the West’s biggest annual grilling championships. There are cash prizes, but the contest is really stoked by bragging rights.

One hundred thousand pounds of ribs and two dozen of the nation’s top grill masters converge here this weekend for one of the biggest annual barbecue championships in the West.

What began 10 years ago as an oversize backyard cookout has grown into a four-day celebration of good food and free music under a sweet, smoky haze in the shadow of the Sierra.

More than $15,000 in prize money goes to the champions, but bragging rights are what really stoke the competition.

“Everybody thinks they are the king of barbecue,” said Michonne Ascuaga, chief executive officer of John Ascuaga’s Nugget, the hotel-casino hosting the 11th annual Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-Off.

The recipes are top secret, but the regional cooking styles are open for public inspection, from the racks of St. Louis ribs to the hickory, alder and cherry wood that fuel the red-hot smokers.

“We cook it real slow,” said Ray Gill, owner of Razorback Cookers in Blytheville, Ark., who has competed since the first event in Reno in 1989. “We serve no swine before its time.”

Gill is typical of the colorful characters who travel the U.S. cook-off circuit.

“We did 23 of them in 1993,” Gill said. “But my wife informed me if she had wanted to be a carny, she would have gotten with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus--somebody with some class instead of a bunch of rib-burners.”

Texan Hubert Green, 72, and his partner “Fast” Eddie Kelsey, 58, have been traveling the country smoking ribs for 20 years. They own North Main Barbecue in Euless, Texas, and compete under the banner of the Sweet Meat Cooking Team.

“This is about No. 1 now,” said Green, a fan of the Sparks event since he won the inaugural title in 1989. “The competition has gotten a lot tougher since then.”

A crowd of 200,000 is expected from Friday through Monday, sampling the competition from Texas, Arkansas, Kentucky, Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, California, Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. There’s even an international entry, Aussom Aussie of Sydney, Australia.

“It is the best advertising you can get,” said defending champion Pete Rathmann, owner of B.J.’s Barbeque in Sparks. “These are the top cookers from all around the United States--the guys who have won the Super Bowl or the World Series of ribs, from the Kansas City Royal to the Jack Daniel’s in Tennessee.”

There will be country, rock, blues and Cajun music on two free stages along the six city blocks in downtown Sparks, a town of about 60,000 that shares Reno’s eastern border. There’s a microbrew village for adults to sample regional ales, but most of the entertainment is family oriented, with children’s games and artisan booths.

And the cooks are always the headliners.

“Get your mouths ready. The ribs are coming,” Sparks Mayor Tony Armstrong says. “The cooking will knock your socks off. I sample every style of them.”

Like most champions, Rathmann seasons his raw ribs with a dry rub --a mixture of salt and spices. He burns black oak in his smoker, actually green black oak.

“Hickory has a little harsher flavor. The green wood will give you a sweeter smoke because the tars and the oils aren’t dried into the wood yet,” Rathmann said.

Gill said his ribs are strictly “Memphis style,” with its more vinegar-based sauce.

“Different regions have different barbecue styles. The further north you go, the more sauce, the sweeter the sauce. The meat is falling off the bone. To us that is a reheat or an overcook. The meat should kind of tug off the bone,” he said.

Billy Bones, 60, owner of Billy Bones BBQ in Midland, Mich., grew up on an apple farm in Michigan where his father and grandfather taught him to smoke meat with apple wood.

There are a lot of subtle tricks to the trade, he said.

“We make sure the smoke is the right color,” he said. “And one guy rotates the beer in the cooler so at no time a guy gets a warm can of beer, because that could shut down the whole operation.”