A Few Things,

I was interested in programming in C but I don't seem to have much luck.

Is their anyway to tell if your virtual server account supports C without having to just ask? I.E., small program, variable or something like that?

Is their any good resource that shows the a,b,c's of programming in C and just examples?

Is the speed really worth the time of learning C? What are the advantages and disadvantages?

Well for what that I know of is that C is indeed must faster than perl language. A lot of big companies with big databases use C for their CGI scripts. If you are interested in learning, I suggest that you go for it. But most of users prefer perl as it is much more easier to handle, if you going to distribute you programs that is.