LOUDON, N.H. – Snowmobile suits and insulated boots replaced shorts and sandals as race fans bundled up against the chill to watch the Winston Cup race postponed from warmer September after the terrorist attacks.

“They won’t have to spend much money on ice today,” said Ira Halsey, 38, who drove seven hours to the track from Pulaski, N.Y., on Lake Ontario.

He and a group of friends arrived at 6 a.m., almost an hour before dawn, when the temperature was in the 20s. They made their way to their seats and posted a hand-made sign that said: “NASCAR beats the cold.”

“I had to scrape the frost off the railing to tape this on,” said Rod McNitt, 31, also of Pulaski. He and many other fans wore Santa hats instead of their NASCAR team hats.

Others, such as Cody Wilson, 10, of Pulaski, wore ski hats over their racing headgear.

“I’m ready for a chilly day,” he said, though apparently not ready enough. His feet were freezing more than two hours before the noon start.

At race time, it was 42 degrees. In the sun, it felt warm, but in the shade, it was downright chilly.

“We got here at 8 o’clock,” Shawna Hachey, 33, of Old Town, Maine, said. “You could still see your breath.”

She said if it had been colder, she would have worn a snowmobile suit, but she wasn’t going to miss the race.

“I would have come if it had been snowing – it’s a day out, with no kids.”

David Goewey, 47, of Winchendon, Mass., did wear a snowmobile suit, and insulated boots.

“You can’t be too warm,” he said.

Sitting next to him, John Bard, 43, of North Brookfield, Mass., and Karen Spingola, 43, of Rindge, were ready for the Arctic.

“We’ve got our blanket, sleeping bag, sweat shirt, coats and handwarmers,” Spingola said.

“We weren’t going to miss this race,” said Bard, who pulled up his pant leg to show he was wearing sweatpants underneath.

Chris Peterson, 28, of Peterborough, wore a heavy coat and sat on an orange, heated, seat warmer, the kind hunters use in the woods.

Decked out warm, drab-colored shirt, pants and jacket, his dad, Tom Peterson Sr., looked as though he could have been stalking deer instead of cheering drivers.

“The big decision was whether to go deer hunting or come to the race,” he said. “So I wore the deer hunting clothing and came to the race.”

A few sections away sat Carol Premo, 57, of Massena, N.Y. She was hard to miss, huddled under a pink, white, green and yellow pastel afghan.

“My mother made it,” Premo said. “It’s keeping me nice and warm.