Alex,
On the surface you're correct. However, take the typical single coil/distributor system and reverse the polarity on the coil and you will reduce the spark performance. Depending on the car, you may or may not notice a power drop, but you WILL likely notice a MPG drop. Its a subtle thing to be sure, but some folks are running some serious boost/RPM and, in my opinion, under those conditions, the benifits are tangible.
I quote two gentleman citing roughly the same cause....
"The center electrode in a spark plug runs hotter than its grounded electrode. Since electrons can be striped off of a hot electrode more readily than off of a cold electrode, the center electrode is always made the negative electrode. The result of this choice is that the arc across the spark plug electrodes can be initiated at a slightly lower potential when the center electrode is the negative electrode. (In this manner, thermionic emission aids in the establishment of the initial discharge.)
Best wishes, Carl Cederstrand"
And...
"Spark plugs are sensitive to polarity and they will not function as
efficiently it the secondary coil voltage is of the wrong polarity.
The reason for this sensitivity is as follows. The centre electrode has
a higher temperature, normally, than the ground electrode so that more
electrons will be released from the hotter metal surface of the centre
electrode than from the ground electrode.
If the centre electrode polarity is more negative than the ground
electrode (which is connected to chassis) then the earth electrode will
attract electrons from the centre electrode; but if the coil secondary
voltage polarity is reversed, the voltage needed to cause electrons to
pass from the earth to the centre electrode (i.e. to make the gap
conductive) is increased.
All the best
--
John Harper"
HTH, Ron