CONCORD, N.C. -- When Pennie Stacey clings to the catch fence for the start of the All-Star Challenge screaming Bobby Labonte's name at the top of her lungs, she's knows the driver in the No. 43 can't hear her.

But it doesn't matter; she's having the time of her life in what she considers to be the best night of the year: Ladies night.

"If he sees me, he'll go faster," said Stacey of her favorite driver, evidenced by her yellow No. 43 T-shirt and visor.

Girls rule boys drool: That's the loud battle cry of Stacey and nine other girls from Spartanburg, S.C., who make an annual pilgrimage to Lowe's Motor Speedway for the All-Star race and have since 1999.

Connected by their love of the NASCAR, but more a need for female bonding away from husbands and children, the ladies set up shop outside the track for tailgating, gossiping and good times.

Like giddy campers around a camp fire, their lawn chairs are circled around a cooler packed with baked goods and select beverages. They are a stone's throw away from the souvenir haulers because no girl's trip would be complete without shopping.

And much like men preparing for Super Bowl Sunday, these Spartanburg ladies spend hours at department stores shopping for the perfect chair, snacks and enough sugar to rival any teenage slumber party.

Here is where the ladies hang for hours until it's time to take their places in the Chrysler grandstands where the group draws some pretty perplexed stares.

"One year, some men looked at us and said, 'What is this, a PTA meeting?'" laughed Shelby Taylor, the appointed ring leader of the group and employee at Wofford College in Spartanburg.

But the stares of apprehension dissolve once Taylor and Stacey break out the "bait."

Once the "bait" is out of the box, the ladies suddenly have more friends than they can count.

"As soon as you open the container, you meet whoever is behind you and in front of you," Taylor said. (Continued)