BALTIMORE -- As usual, winning money was secondary for those in the Preakness infield Saturday.

Drinking beer has always been the order of the day, and this year was no exception. But there was another priority for the thousands who gathered on the soggy turf at Pimlico Race Course: keeping warm.

With temperatures in the low 50s and dark clouds hovering overhead, those in the infield were chillin' in the literal sense of the word.

Huddled on the ground with a beer in hand, Jordan Silver looked like she wanted to be anywhere but at Pimlico.

"I'm just cold," she said. "This is my first time here, and I didn't know what to expect."

When Silver and 14 friends first planned the trip from Indiana University, it probably sounded like a good idea. But who knew that Baltimore would get a dose of February weather in the third weekend of May?

In 1998, the heat was so unbearable on Preakness day that the extensive use of air conditioners in the area caused a power outage that crippled the tracks' air conditioning system, closed pari-mutuel windows and darkened stairwells.

There was no chance of that happening Saturday. On the positive side, the rain that pelted the area all night finally subsided around 9:30 a.m.

"Thank goodness for that," said Joe De Francis, president and CEO of Pimlico. "We tracked the weather very closely, and it was very clear that we had a major storm system going up and down the North Atlantic region."

That's one reason why the infield was uncharacteristically empty on the opposite end of the tunnel entrance.

"Rain and wet conditions will do that," De Francis said. "Given the weather, we're thrilled to death with the crowd."

Because of the threatening skies, kids were hawking umbrellas and rain slickers outside the gate. Some of the people inside had their own method of protection.

Jack Hoffman, who drove down from Pennsylvania, was covered from head to toe in trash bags.

"It's my Hefty bag ensemble," he said. "It was originally for the rain, but now it's just keeping me warm."

Hoffman and his crew were standing around a trash can filled with ice and five cases of beer. They started depleting the inventory at 8:30 a.m., and had no intention of stopping until the can was empty.

"It's just an all-around good time," said Hoffman, attending his first Preakness.

Although the infield offered an awful view of the track, there were large television screens for those who actually cared about the 13-race card.

Rob Cunningham, 31, a registered nurse, was one of those people. Cunningham was studying both the Racing Form and the women walking by as he sat in a folding chair, poised between the TV screen and the betting window.

"The bad thing about the cold is that the women have too much clothes on," he said. "But there definitely aren't as many people here as last year. There was a much longer line to get through the tunnel."

About 100 yards from Cunningham stood 22-year-old Brett Holmes, holding a National Bohemian beer. It was obviously not his first brew of the day, given that he was wearing shorts and a hat -- and nothing else.

No shirt, no shoes, no common sense.

"Standard Preakness attire," he said. "It's really not that bad out here."

His chattering teeth suggested otherwise.