IME
Track and Field => Athletes run counterclockwise
Speed Skating => Counterclockwise
Nascar => CounterClockwise
Indy Cars => Counterclockwise
Horseracing => Counterclockwise
Dog Racing => Counterclockwise
24 years ago the MASTERS SPEAKS on the topic.
The auto racing explanation seems to make sense, but they were racing horses long before auto racing.
I have never seen a major race conducted on a track in a counterclockwise direction. Is there any?
Some races are on a figure-8 track, where there isn’t a distinct clockwise or counterclockwise.
I think you just named six.
:smack:
I picked the wrong to give sniffing glue.
Should have said CLOCKWISE. :smack:
Actually, NASCAR races clockwise on its two road courses.
Also, Formula 1 races are clockwise.
Not always. Of the 19 races scheduled for the 2014 F1 season, 14 will be run clockwise, 4 will be run counter-clockwise, and one will be run on a figure-of-8 track.
NHRA dragsters never race clockwise or counterclockwise, unless someone’s tire explodes.
Can’t speak for the US, but in Australia not all horse racing is anti-clockwise. Victoria is, but New South Wales is clockwise.
Not sure about the other Australian states.
Edited to add: Funnily enough our biggest car race, the Bathurst 1000, is anti-clockwise even though the cars are right hand drive. If they slide off the track it’s the driver’s side that hits the wall.
A PE teacher of mine once asked this during a track lesson. I mumbled, “the Coriolis Effect.”
“What?”
“The Coriolis Effect. If we were running in the Southern Hemisphere we’d go the other way.”
He backed away slowly, then pointedly avoided me the rest of the semester.