Auto Racing: racing, hi john, oval track

Question
In racing (dog, horse, auto, etc), why do they go counterclockwise?

Answer
Hi John:
Most of the road races I am involved with are run clockwise- - I have no idea why others are run in one direction or another.

However, it occurs to me, that in oval track racing, a
human's tendency is to look from left to right, which would make the anti clockwise direction logical.