I have an old laptop with windows 98...its a terrible laptop, i dont know the specs cuz is a little lost, but i know i have it. I i want to install linux on this laptop... will it work, or will it be slow and not work.

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ubuntu

you don't need a very powerful system to run it,but if you're gunna use all the cool themes and candy then you might want to use a better machine. Basically I think if you have a P3 or better with 256-512 ram average...you shuold be good for the most part.

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ubuntu is kindda big, cause it uses Gnome as the GUI, but gnome is better, i had better experiences with DSL (Damn Small Linux) and OpenSuse.

i would suggest those they run great on a Virtual Machine so i would think that they would run fine on a P.O.S. laptop

You can use ArchLinux and a window manager like Fluxbox and Openbox which will be fast.But installing and configuring Arch isn't that easy for a Linux newbie.
So another possibilities: Fluxbuntu( ubuntu with lightweight window manager fluxbox) and of course DSL(Damn Small Linux) always come handy for old machines. It will be very fast regardless to say.