SPARKS, Nev. (AP) - The scent of smoky barbecue will be wafting over downtown Sparks as 25 rib cookers compete in the annual Best in the West Rib Cook-off.

The six-day event sponsored by John Ascuaga's Nugget, now in its 20th year, began Wednesday and runs through Labor Day.

Besides bragging rights, the contest includes more than $14,000 in prize money.

Famous Dave's BBQ of Minnetonka, Minn., is the two-time defending champion. Famous Dave's won both the judged competition and the People's Choice Award last year.

Steve Vaughn, manager of Texas Outlaw Barbecue, said his crew began cooking on Tuesday.

"The slow smoke, that's what makes it good," Vaughn said, who estimated he'll go through 7,000 slabs of pork ribs by the end of the weekend.

"You can't rush it if you want to win."

Vaughn, whose company has won the cook-off title three times, said the Sparks event is not only one of the biggest, with a half million people expected to attend over the six days, but also the most prestigious for the cooks.

"Winning here is like winning three of any of the other events," he said. "There are no bad barbecuers out here. Everyone is great."

Dan Kinder, of Concord, Calif.,-based Kinder's Custom Meats, agreed. Kinder also has a restaurant in Reno.

"If you can place, it means a lot because there are a lot of great cookers here," Kinder told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

"If we do well here, it benefits the Reno store."

Kinder's Custom Meats is the defending champion for "Best Sauce" at the Best In the West Nugget Rib Cook-off, and Kinder said he'd be thrilled just to place again this year.

"We have a good product," he said. "The people think so, and that's all that counts."

Last year's second- and third-place finishers, Desperado's BBQ & Rib Co., of Hinckley, Ohio, and Reno-based Maui Wowie BBQ Co., are competing again this year.

Other Nevada competitors include B.J.'s Barbecue of Sparks and the Carson City Barbecue Co.

Butch's Smack Your Lips BBQ, a past winner from Mt. Laurel, N.J., also is back this year.

On Friday, the Nugget will celebrate the "Running of the Pigs" with 20 pigs running a course on Victorian Avenue in celebration of the event's 20th anniversary.

Following that, a two-hog contest — one named for John McCain and the other for Barack Obama — will compete in the "Presidential Pig Race," to see if the winning porker predicts the outcome of the presidential election, Nugget spokesman Mike Traum said.