St. Pius Grad Competes in X-Games Rally Car Races

Joseph Burke, a 2009 graduate, competed in the X-Games in Los Angeles over the last weekend.

The rally car racer didn't take home any gold medals but raced against some of the top rally car drivers in the world in the two events he competed in: Rally Car Racing and RallyCross. In the Rally Car Racing event, Burke lost to Liam Doran, a British racer who went on to take the gold medal.

Burke, a mechanical engineering major at Auburn University, intends to graduate in 2013, according to a St. Pius statement. His father got him into racing, and he began competing immediately after he passed his driving test at 16. He won nationwide acclaim when he was named the 2010 Rally America Rookie of the Year.

You can keep up with him on his Facebook page. And if you want to check out some of his work, there's a particularly impressive video of him competing in a forest rally in New England sometime last year. Driving through the woods at an average speed of 73mph seems crazy to me, but, hey, I spend most of my time in an adjustable swivel chair. There's also one of him crashing. It's not pretty. Videos at right.