Ever Wondered Why?

[StarDust Bum]

Ever wondered why :

1) The indy 500 race is run counter clock wise?

2) Nascar is race the same.....

3) Track Meet Mile or longer run the same

4) Speed Skating the same

5) Running out a Home run the same.

6) Horse races the same......hummmmmmm did i forget anything?

Seems like anything on a oval track is run counterclock wise....

Is there a sport that does things clockwise?

And does anyone know why races are run counter clockwise.....

[mavskidd02]

With auto racing, the counter clockwise is partly due to safety. Making sure all turns are left turns (counterclockwise) ensures that the drivers are always nearest the open field, rather than the wall. This is because in America they drive on the left hand side.

If races were ran with right hand turns (clockwise), the driver's would be nearest the wall. And the collisions with a car gone out of control would result with the driver's side hitting first.

With the left hand turns and counterclockwise, the crashes result in the unoccupied side hitting before the driver's side does.

This is the way a guy explained it to me in the south once, when I wondered the same thing outloud. I also looked it up afterward and the same idea was shown.

As for the other things, I don't know.

[mavskidd02]

Horse Races run counter clockwise because of anti British sentiment at the time of their inception. The first circular race track was made in 1780, while America was still in times of turmoil with the British. The race tracks were insisted to be counter clockwise, because Britain was an advocate of conducting races and other such things in a clockwise manner.

Simply: Horses run counter clockwise, because America was mad at Britain when they thought it up.

[WayneChung]

horse races run counter clockwise because of anti british sentiment at the time of their inception. The first circular race track was made in 1780, while america was still in times of turmoil with the british. The race tracks were insisted to be counter clockwise, because britain was an advocate of conducting races and other such things in a clockwise manner.

Simply: Horses run counter clockwise, because america was mad at britain when they thought it up.

thats a good history lesson mk,big horse fan and was not aware of that !!