Interview with the Champs – Pullin’ My Money Muscle

Day one of the BBQ Jamboree in Fredericksburg, VA saw a new face in the winner’s circle. Tom Sainclair, pitmaster of Pullin’ My Money Muscle Competition BBQ Team pulled of his first KCBS grand championship. Check out Tom’s answers as we inquired about his first GC and all-around interesting weekend! Tom’s been hot this year and I bet the next one is around the corner!

Question:
So, we understand you had some troubles right out of the shoot in Fredericksburg…tell us about that.
Tom Sainclair, Pullin’ My Money Muscle:
Yes, we all had a tough offseason. Our trailer was in the shop for almost 6 months getting worked on with all our smokers in it so we never got to practice the whole off season. Our truck was having fuel pump issues and I have had bad back troubles. The truck was bucking on the way down to the competition so bad, Melissa wanted to turn around and go home and cancel. We already had cancelled Hagerstown because of all this and I really didn’t want to cancel another one. We pushed on and made it but it took forever and we were exhausted.

Question:
How did your cook on Day 1 go? Were you confident?
Tom Sainclair, Pullin’ My Money Muscle:
In a word….NO!!! Our cook was challenging. My back was so bad at one point I couldn’t stand up from a seated position without help. I was walking with a cane. One of the teams gave us some pvc piping to put on the legs of our table so I could stand up while making the boxes. We forgot a rub and foil. Other teams were very nice and helped us out with all these things but I was just trying to turn in some decent food. That’s what I thought we produced, decent food, not special just good. In fact, I thought our day 2 food was much better and we finished 19th, so goes to show you what I know!

Question:
When did you know you might have a chance to pull off the win?
Tom Sainclair, Pullin’ My Money Muscle:
Well we started awards with a 1st in sauce and a 1st in chicken. We then got 8th in ribs but it wasn’t until we took 5th in pork I thought we had a chance. I mean I thought brisket was our best category but you know how that goes, that’s normally the kiss of death. Then they called us 4th in brisket and I started to sweat.

Question:
How did it feel when they finally called your name as GC?
Tom Sainclair, Pullin’ My Money Muscle:
Well I got really nervous when the organizer announced that the difference between 1st and 2nd was 0.6 points! My first reaction was omg we are going to come up short again. We have been so close so many times and I had myself talked into the fact that we were falling short again. Once I heard them call Wolfs Revenge as RGC I was hit with every emotion all at once. I mean everything we had been through, the lack of practice, the pain I was in, how long we have been waiting for this, it all hit at once. One thing I have never told anybody was that a couple of years ago we almost quit competition BBQ. We had a bad year, everyone was getting so good, I just didn’t see the point in continuing to dump more money into this hobby if we weren’t going to get many returns. We decided to give it one more year and see what happened. That year we did well, and here we are. I always wondered how I would react if we won, and the bottom line was I was just overcome and filled up with tears.

Question:
Some of the best teams in the country were there, how did it feel to beat them on this day? Did it make it more special?
Tom Sainclair, Pullin’ My Money Muscle:
Listen, after waiting this long for a GC, I would have taken one against a bunch of backyard teams making their pro debuts! I guess to answer your question specifically though, yes it was very humbling to have it happen against such a great quality field as this one. Some of these teams have mentored us through the years, and a lot of them we look up to and admire for their unbelievable consistency. Bottom line is, competition bbq is tough. EVERYONE is good or they wouldn’t be there. So you definitely need a little luck no matter how good you are to win, and we were super lucky that particular day.

Question:
Now you’ve got a bung for a the “Jack,” and an entry into the Royal Invitational. What are your thoughts about that and will you go?
Tom Sainclair, Pullin’ My Money Muscle:
So while we have certainly been a good team on the circuit for a while now, it took us a long time to pull all 4 meats together at 1 comp and win the GC. I would love to tell you that this will be our first of many, but I cant do that. We may never win another GC again. So yes, we are in the early stages of planning to go to the Royal, we want to go at least once. We only have like an 8% chance of going to the Jack, but hell yeah, if we get our bung drawn, I wouldn’t miss that for the world!! When we first started competing, I had a list of goals I wanted to accomplish, and going to the Royal and the Jack are the only 2 left I need to check off my list!

Question:
How did you celebrate after the big win on day one?
Tom Sainclair, Pullin’ My Money Muscle:
Honestly, we didn’t really have much time to celebrate. By the time we got back to the trailer it was time to start injecting and getting ready for day 2. Also, once the adrenaline wore off, I was in incredulous pain. Sometimes I still don’t know if I even believe that it happened. If there was any competition, out of every one we have ever done, that I did NOT expect to win, it would have been this one with everything going on. It just goes to show you, on any given Saturday, anything can happen.

Question:
Where are you cooking next and what’s the plan for the rest of the year?
Tom Sainclair, Pullin’ My Money Muscle:
We are competing in the double at Gettysburg Memorial day weekend. We are only signed up for 11 comps total this year, and we probably wont sign up for any more now either that we are adding the Royal. That will bring us to 13 and totally drain my vacation days for the year. If we get super lucky and get drawn for the Jack, we are in trouble!

Question:
Congrats again…anything you’d like to add?
Tom Sainclair, Pullin’ My Money Muscle:
I would just like to say that the reception we got, when they announced our name, was unbelievable. It was like a receiving line at a wedding. The bbq community is SO nice and So supportive its beyond comprehension. My phone was blowing up from other teams at other comps congratulating us. We love being a part of these wonderful people and what they represent. It’s said so much its almost cliché at this point, but everyone IS like family. I don’t think we could ever totally quit competition bbq because of the people in it.

I also am so lucky to get to share these experiences with my 2 best friends in the world, Melissa and Dave. They are the best teammates ever. Angela, Dave’s wife, is a saint too. She always supports anything we want to do. Finally, thanks to you for asking us about our story!!