Bristol BMX Track

Originally this track was called Bristol Civitan as the local Civitan Club was the civic organization behind the track operation. The track was actually built and maintained by Jim Parrot, who still owns the Connecticut Bicycle Exchange in Bristol. The track was off of Emmett Street. It opened in the spring of 1986 and raced on Monday nights. Two years later it was deemed not profitable enough for Jim to keep running it and he decided not to open for the 1989 season. The last race under his Track Directorship was the 1988 State Championship. A few parents decided to try and keep it going and, under new management and with the Bristol Jaycees as a backer, it re-opened on Sunday June 11 and was called "Thunder Alley". It raced every Sunday with a scheduled 4:00 gate drop. Most of the pictures below were taken in 1989. In 1990 it switched to Monday night racing. In the spring of 1992 the city simply plowed it under. In the first year of the re-openning a condo complex was being built along the front straight and it's construction is visible in some of the pictures. After 1991 the residents of the Sandpiper Woods Condominium Complex complained enough to the city about the noise and the city responded. Today there is a major soccer complex at the site and we hope they are screaming their heads off every night.

The curly haired red headed guy in a couple of the pictures is George Givens, who was a volunteer. George is a former multi-time National Arm-Wrestling Champion and appeared (Briefly) in the Movie "Over The Top" staring Sylvestor Stallone. He appears in the picture titled "Don Holder" of RGM BMX". Oh yeah, RGM became T/C Cycle but finally went out of business in 2005.

Sign Outside	Announcers Tower	Back Stretch	Panoramic
Dirt Starting Hill	The "Launcher"	Panoramic 2	Finish Line Area Next to Swamp
Chick in Bathing suit is my wife	Favorite Spot	Clinic Maybe? Naw gate probably broke!	Road to Glory
Greg Plaskett in Cycle Craft Uni	The Start	Don Holder of RGM BMX	Finish Area
State Commish Don Olson	Dan Plaskett in Schwinn Uni	The "Launcher" again	Dan Plaskett in Diamond Back Uni and Jeff Krouse in Zeronine Uni