Monrovia BMX: Darrel Foster's Track and the Sunday-Morning Slot
BMX Racing History · Track File · Legend Bike Co
Monrovia BMX: Darrel Foster's Track and the Sunday-Morning Slot
Some tracks make the history books through a big national or a famous name on the roster. Monrovia made its mark through a schedule — it held the Sunday-morning slot in the San Gabriel Valley's BMX week for years, with Azusa BMX running the same Sundays in the evening. The two tracks worked as a pair rather than competitors. When Monrovia closed, its slot didn't disappear — it passed straight to Pipeline.
The Sunday-morning track
Under Rich Long's era running Azusa BMX, the San Gabriel Valley's race week had a rhythm to it: Monrovia — Darrel Foster's track — held the early Sunday races, and Azusa held Sunday evenings. That detail comes from Thomas Ainsworth, whose parents co-owned Azusa BMX from 1982 and who wrote in to the library with firsthand memories of the era. His account also names some of the people who kept the week running around both tracks — Tom and Cindy Kocen on the gate, Linda Dorsey announcing, and the Foster family itself as part of the same circle.
What the record independently shows
Monrovia's existence as a real, active track checks out beyond Ainsworth's letters. A UK shop owner's account of a Southern California team tour in Easter 1981 — organized by Robinson Racing's Chuck Robinson — names Monrovia alongside Azusa, Ascot, Van Nuys, Devonshire Downs, Orange, and Canyon Country as active stops on the circuit that spring. Scattered rider recollections on BMX forums mention racing at Monrovia in the early 1980s and describe a distinctive water-crossing or mud-hole feature on the track — casual memories, not attributed to anyone by name, so we're treating them as color rather than fact.
When Monrovia closed, Pipeline picked up
Per Ainsworth's account, when Monrovia shut down, a track called Pipeline opened around the Chino area, run by a man he knew as Stan — later identified, on Legend's own Pipeline chapter, as Stan Hoffman. Pipeline took over the Sunday-morning slot Monrovia had held, while Azusa kept the evening, and the two tracks promoted each other rather than compete for the same riders. Beyond confirming that Monrovia existed and operated on that schedule, we haven't found independent sourcing for exactly when it closed or why.
What we still don't know: Darrel Foster's background and role beyond running the track, the track's sanction (ABA, NBL, or otherwise), its opening date, and the specific year and reason it closed. Everything on this page beyond the 1981 team-tour mention and the forum color rests on one firsthand account.
Raced Monrovia? Knew Darrel Foster or his family? Have results, photos, or a clearer date on when the track opened or closed? Legend Bike Co wants to hear from you — this page grows as the people who were there fill in the record.
Sources: Thomas Ainsworth's account, whose parents co-owned Azusa BMX from 1982; received through the Legend Bike Co contact page, 2026. 23mag.com — Alan Woods (Alans BMX), recounting Robinson Racing's Easter 1981 Southern California team tour, which lists Monrovia as an active track alongside Azusa, Ascot, Van Nuys, Devonshire Downs, Orange, and Canyon Country. BMX community forum recollections of racing at Monrovia in the early 1980s, treated as color and not independently attributed. oldschoolmags.com and bmxsociety.com were checked directly for Monrovia BMX and Darrel Foster; neither returned independently readable material at the time of research.