Wings ’N Wheels, Powell’s annual car show, air show and drag racing event, will bring revving engines and rotating propellers to the Powell airport Saturday for its 13th year.

Drag races on the airstrip will be returning and the event continues to attract interest. This is likely due to people now learning about the races, said Tim Kindred, one of the race organizers.

“It’s kind of been a word of mouth thing and also some people were kind of scared to bring their cars out because they didn’t know what to expect or any of that,” Kindred said. “I think because they’ve kind of learned about it, they’ve kind of realized what it is and it’s just grown for that reason.”

Organized drag races also occur at the airport outside of Wings ’N Wheels, Kindred added; three have taken place this year with another race scheduled for September. Powell does have a bit of a car culture, he said, if “it’s got a motor and makes noise and goes fast … people enjoy that.” 

“I mean, people enjoy participating, and people like to watch it as well. And there is a pretty big car culture in Powell and the area,” Kindred said. “There’s a lot of cars that people don’t ever see except for those kinds of things when they go on.”

The races, which will continue throughout the day at Wings ’N Wheels, give people an opportunity to bring their car out and engage in friendly competition.

“We’ve had a bunch of younger kids, which I love to see, high school kids that are out there racing. Some of them are hopped up pickups, a lot of them are just stock, and they’re just having a great time doing it,” Kindred said, “So to give them a venue to do that, in a safe way … that’s huge.”

Recently they did a nighttime drag race with lights provided by Ryno’s Rentals, which was their second largest event next to Wings ’N Wheels.

“We encourage anybody that wants to come out and have fun with their car to come up. I mean, you can, you can run once, you can run 100 times,” Kindred said. “We just encourage anybody and everybody to come up and have a good time.”

Last year Wings ’N Wheels had 50 cars in the show and somewhere around 40 airplanes, said Mike Martin, Wing ’N Wheels organizer.

This year’s air show will feature Bob Freeman of Free Man Airshows in his last season. Freeman has been competing in aerobatics worldwide since 1985, the Free Man AirShows Facebook page says, including on three U.S. aerobatic teams. Attendees will also see a handful of other planes perform fly-bys at the event. 

The air show will begin following the safety briefing at 9 a.m.  Martin said, while drag races will begin just before the briefing and occur throughout the day. But Martin encourages people to arrive early so they aren’t waiting in line. 

“It’ll happen all day long until it gets either too hot or we run out of caring,” Martin said with a chuckle.

Gates will open at 7 a.m., around the same time as the fundraising breakfast for the Experimental Aircraft Association’s scholarship fund. 

In addition to the cars, planes and scholarship breakfast, food trucks will also be at the event.

Admission to Wings ’N Wheels is $10; children 12 and under get in for free.