World Short Track Championships - Dirt Track Trek

Not surprisingly, the cold snap hurt the weekend crowds. Humpy Wheeler, the president and promoter for LMS, said a 10-degree drop in temperature was worth 3,000 fans. The dip was more than 10 degrees, and there probably were more than 3,000 missing fans.

"We'll do all right. We won't cry," Wheeler says. "Abnormally cold weather is bad, but it's better than wet."

There were 271 race cars on Friday night. The Four-Cylinder Stock division had enough cars (84) to have six eight-lap heat races. It may have been even colder on Saturday night. While the top of a car had frost on it on Friday, the roof and windshield were covered with frost the next night.

Late Model driver Ricky Weeks of Rutherfordton, North Carolina, Sprint Car racer Ron Blair of Troy, Ohio, and IMCA Modified driver Roger Moser of Fulton, Missouri, were among the drivers to watch during the weekend. Stuber probably wasn't one being noticed, although he's had roughly 20 feature wins in a 19-year career.

Many of the divisions were filled with drivers from the Carolinas and Virginia, but the IMCA Modifieds were from everywhere. Sure, there were drivers from places in North Carolina, but there were also guys from New York, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Texas, and Tennessee.

George Catanzano, who brought his IMCA Modified car 1211/42 hours over 775 miles from Old Chatham, New York, says he's been to the Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, one of LMS' sister tracks.

"This reminds me of Las Vegas so much," Catanzano says of the Dirt Track at LMS. "It's banked more here, and it's faster here with better clay."

Why travel all that way for a two-night race?

"It's Lowe's Motor Speedway," he says, emphasizing the track's name. "I'd never been here."

And, too . . .

"We're stupid," he adds with a laugh. "We travel a long way for a lot of races. We'll go to Boone, Iowa, for the Super Nationals."

J.J. Courcy said he and his friends drove 12 hours from Mexico, New York, roughly 765 miles. He and his companions had already visited a couple of race shops by Friday evening, and they were planning to head up to Welcome, North Carolina-a little less than an hour away-to visit Richard Childress Racing on Saturday. They didn't know at the time that race shops don't open on Saturday, but live and learn.

Nathan Sugg, 19, didn't have much of a trip, since he's attending college at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College in Concord, not far from LMS. But Nathan's dad, Edward, drove all the way from the family's home in Grand Prairie, Texas-more than 1,060 miles-so Nathan could race at The Dirt Track.

"[Nathan] found out last week when he looked at the pre-entry list," Sugg says. "He thought, 'I wonder who's coming from Texas,' and he found out that it was him."

"It was a big-time surprise," Nathan Sugg says. "A thousand miles is a long way to bring a race car."

The younger Sugg is an intern for the No. 1 Joe Nemechek/Ginn Racing Nextel Cup team. He says he plans to get his general courses out of the way at Rowan-Cabarrus, get his North Carolina residency, then transfer to UNC Charlotte in 2007 to major in engineering.

Edward Sugg says he had never been to this area before, but it was easily his longest trip for a race.

"I drove 19 hours," Sugg says. "I did it for him; he's my boy."

Sugg says they didn't have an auspicious start here, with problems getting through registration. Several drivers complained that they had to go through one long line to register, then head through another long line to draw a qualifying spot.

"This is probably the worst place we've gone as far as being organized," he says.