This story is from the March 2026 issue of American Motorcyclist magazine.

WALTON’S WORLD

Jimmy Walton’s heated indoor Route 62 MX Park has built up steam recently in the cold Midwest

Written By: Keaton Maisano

The focus is simple for Route 62 MX Park owner Jimmy Walton: “I’m making Route 62 amateurs feel like pros…that's from sign up, to when you cross the finish line, to when you leave.”

Pairing a heated indoor facility to combat the cold Ohio winters with proper track maintenance and post-race interviews, Walton has backed up his talk with actions. Word has spread, too, with the most recent winter season drawing a steady diet of more than 800 entries at each event in the facility.

But Walton will be the first to tell you that Route 62 was anything but an overnight success. In fact, it took an initial leap of faith and several grim seasons to make it what it is today.

Growing up poor, Walton only got into motorcycling once he could afford it, and this newfound lifestyle was passed down to his kids, who took up the sport of motocross. Entrenched in the world of motorcycle racing, the Waltons frequently rode at a nearby facility in Martinsburg, Ohio, and began to build a relationship with the owner.  

The owner began teasing Walton about bringing a checkbook to buy the facility as early as 2015, and by 2017, Walton did something he previously considered unimaginable…and bought it.

 “There’s nothing like motocross,” Walton said. “I love it. I want to be a part of it. I want to grow with it. I want to help better all the riders. I wanted to be part of something that I can make a difference in.”

In the early days of Walton’s Route 62, the going was quite hard, as Walton had put most of his money into acquiring the facility, which included a grown-out outdoor track and a small barn where racing also took place. With little to no money to pour into the facility, a lot of the work that needed to be done was at a standstill.  

What Walton lacked in funds he made up for with hard work and enthusiasm, doing much of the work on the facility himself. One of the biggest learning curves came with track prep, as he slowly and painfully discovered the best materials, treatment and moisture level to create and maintain a proper racing surface. The work was made easier over the years as Walton turned just one small pond — with a financed Bobcat — into an operation with five track-water ponds and proper heavy machinery.  

“I bought what I could when I could,” Walton said. “The better I started prepping, the bigger the crowds started being.”

With positive feedback from those bigger crowds, Walton decided to take a big step and build a larger building that could accommodate bigger and faster bikes, all while transforming the existing small barn into a heated pit area that could be enjoyed throughout the winter.

“I take extreme pride in what I do,” Walton said. “I want to have an insanely sick facility for everyone to come and practice at for more than just six months, [and practice] year-round. I want to better the riders.”

Construction of a larger building that would house the indoor track forced the facility to be shut down for a year at the turn of the decade, and Walton once again rolled up his sleeves and did the work to stretch the funding for the project, running gas and water lines himself.

“…whatever you dream of, we build it.” 

“I built it all, [from] the water trucks to the building,” Walton said. “What everybody doesn’t see is the part that makes it all work…the tractors, the skid steer, the water trucks, and the underground watering system and water lines that don’t freeze. Something in the wintertime has to happen so you can water the track. It’s not just building a building, putting a track in there and ‘Hey! Let’s go ride!’ There’s so much more to it, and I’ve learned that just by failing.”

When finished, the gas-heated Route 62 MX indoor complex consisted of a massive 320-by-160-foot indoor track, the converted 170-by-100-foot pit area and an 80-by-40-foot pit/office building. Even with low temperatures outside, Walton said the temperature in the pits is well above 60 degrees.  

Word spread, and within a few years of the facility allowing year-round racing and offering open practice sessions five days a week, entry numbers began to boom, hitting more than 800 entries regularly for the most recent season of Route 62 MX’s winter series. In part, the popularity is due to the inclusivity of the venue, which accommodates both big and small bike classes.

Each winter series event includes many qualifying motos, with 14 — the number that the gate can accommodate — riders qualifying for the main event. As for the indoor track layout, which RAD Designs comes and changes after each event to keep things fresh [Route 62’s outdoor tracks are changed once or twice per year, as well – Ed.], the space is large enough to accommodate a hybrid style between Arenacross and Supercross. Walton said lap times come in at just under a minute.

“[The track] is six lanes wide,” Walton said. “There are multiple rhythms, step on, step off, triples, doubles…whatever you dream of, we build it.”

The popularity has grown so much that the layouts are even being duplicated on the video game MX Bikes. Walton just sends photos of the track to a guy in Arizona, and in short order, anyone can ride around on the tracks virtually.

“I love Route 62 because the track layouts are sweet,” 12-year-old rider Weston White said. “I like that Jimmy changes it up every round for indoors to bring us something new. He does so much to make this place awesome for everyone. He’s a great dude. Plus, adding the tracks to MX Bikes is so awesome for me and all my friends to battle each other virtually, too.” 

Walton also emphasizes the experience around the races, striving to create a big-event atmosphere.

“What Supercross does, I do,” Walton said. “We interview the kids on the podium that I built for them. We do the whole sponsor thing. We have an announcer letting them shout out people and all that.”

Despite the success, Walton is anything but complacent, as he plans to use the success and popularity to make Route 62 MX even better in the future. “In the short term, I’m trying to get the finish line accomplished and make it like the pros,” Walton said. “I want to do rider intros and No. 1 plates for the championship that stay red on their bike, just like Supercross. Long-term goals, I’m kind of making it all happen, honestly. If I think it and dream it, I try to build it.”

 With all the hard-earned success Route 62 MX has enjoyed, it makes sense to wonder if this is the future of racing in areas of the country that experience cold winters. While Walton said building an indoor facility is not feasible for a lot of people, he admitted that the indoor racing environment is undeniably popular.

“Not everybody can just build a building,” Walton said. “But I do think it's a good steppingstone for the future. It’s just a different kind of racing. I don’t know why it’s [getting] bigger. It just is. There’s just not a whole bunch to do in the wintertime...It’s easier to get them gathered up to go do something in the winter as opposed to when you can do anything in the summer.”

For more information on Route 62 MX and its events, go to route62mx.com.

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This story is from the March 2026 issue of American Motorcyclist magazine, BY KEATON MAISANO

PHOTOS BY ANNIE WHITE/FULL THROTTLE IMAGES