30 years ago, Mike Martin organized a car show and fly-in for a group of friends. Year over year, that event has slowly grown into one of the highlights of the summer and lures thousands of visitors to Powell.
This year’s Wings and Wheels, occurring August 14-15 at the Powell Municipal Airport, promises to be a well attended event, with last year’s event drawing a crowd of around 4,000 attendees. For an entry fee of $10, attendees will be able to enjoy a day of drag racing, fly-ins, and aerobatics.
Two sets of bleachers will be set up for viewers alongside the runway at the Powell airport. For the more daring attendees, “you can bring your lawn chairs and you can sit right out next to the flight line, and watch the wings go by within a couple feet of your face,” Martin said.
The weekend’s events kick off at 4 p.m. on Friday, August 14, with drag racing on the runway, immediately followed by a twilight air show. A swap meet and car show will occur on both Friday and Saturday, with food available for purchase from various on-site vendors as well.
Festivities continue on Saturday at 7 a.m., with a pancake breakfast followed by a series of entertaining events.
“It’s a little chaotic,” Martin said of the drag races and fly-ins. “We’ll have people drag racing on the runway, but at any point an airplane can fly over, so we’ll empty the runway, they’ll land the airplane, go over and park, then we’ll keep drag racing.”
Attendees will also be able to view an airshow Saturday morning, with multiple pilots performing a series of stunts directly overhead.
“No one can be on the runway, because these (pilots) are going to be aerobatics – which means they’re going to be upside down and sideways and they’re going to be doing cartwheels in the air – all kinds of crazy stuff that people don’t realize you can do with an airplane,” Martin said.
“After that we’ll start drag racing again.”
For those interested in sponsoring this year’s event or future events, contact Mike Martin at mikedmartin69@gmail.com.
Listen to Martin promote Wings and Wheels during a Partyline interview below:
