Good News Sunday: Engineer from Elk Grove Village to be part of Indy pit crew this month

This is Good News Sunday, a compilation of some of the more upbeat and inspiring stories published recently by the Daily Herald:

Dreaming of making it to the Indianapolis 500 some day, Elk Grove High School student Steve Krock began his racing career in 1998 on a little track in rural Indiana, driving a kart he built with his dad and money he made from several jobs. "I'm pretty sure I finished last," Krock says.

This month, Krock, a 41-year-old mechanical engineer working for Ed Carpenter Racing, will be changing the inside front tire during pit stops by driver Rinus Veekay in car No. 21 at the Indy 500. Not exactly the way Krock's teenage self envisioned making it to Indy, but Krock says he truly is living the dream.

"That's probably my favorite part of the whole thing, doing pit stops. I love it," says Krock. "I put on my helmet and grab a wheel-gun."

Changing a tire in seconds before a roaring crowd of 300,000 spectators and an international television audience is a rush.

"The target time is 4½ seconds or less," says Krock, whose race-day best is 3.6 seconds. "I've done it faster in the shop. After you've done it a thousand times, you'd be surprised how fast you can do it. The key is being able to do it consistently quick."

For the full story, click here.

Hampshire High alum donates his art to school

Adeshola Makinde says his experience as a Black student in the mostly white Hampshire High School had its challenges.

"It really took me learning my history and all that Black people have accomplished to really make me understand that there was more to this world than what I had gone through while at Hampshire High School," Makinde said in an email.

Now a self-taught artist, Makinde was expected to return to Hampshire High on Thursday to donate one of his mixed-media creations, titled "Liberated Black Male." The piece features images of Allen Iverson, an NBA player who inspired Makinde as a teen.

"He inspired me to always be myself, and that it's OK to be different from what you see in the mainstream," Makinde said.

"I want to give a kid like me hope that it's OK to be different and that there's power in that," added Makinde, whose work recently was featured in a solo exhibition at the Stoney Island Arts Bank in Chicago.

For the full story, click here.

New murals bringing positivity, color to downtown St. Charles

Sporting messages like "You Made It!" and "Just Keep Growing," five new murals are welcoming visitors to downtown St. Charles with positivity and a splash of color.

The murals were created by St. Charles Business Alliance and New York artist Steffi Lynn. Lynn designed three of the murals - including the "You Made It!" mural - and two of the murals were designed by the St. Charles Business Alliance.

"She is very popular on Instagram," St. Charles Business Alliance Executive Director Jenna Sawicki said. "She has over 132,000 followers. She's famous for her 'Have A Nice Day' mural. She does very positive affirmations, and she has partnered with a lot of major brands like Ulta. Her three murals were specifically inspired by St. Charles."

The other two murals were created by the St. Charles Business Alliance's marketing team.

Fittingly enough, the series of murals is being called Bloom In St. Charles.

"They're all positive affirmations, and they all have some sort of flower theme," Sawicki said. "The point was to bring interactive art to the downtown area. When people are coming to St. Charles, we want them to have a good day. It really has drawn a great demographic of people."

For the full story, click here.

Adaptive bikes enhance lives of riders with mobility issues

Cyclists take it for granted - wind whistling past our ears, that quasi-sensation of flying.

Children with a motor disability, brain injury or balance issue don't. Families with special-needs children can hardly see past health appointments, neurological assessments, medical bills. A $3,000-$5,000 adaptive bicycle? Seriously?

While expensive, adaptive bikes become available through various fundraising efforts, enabling special-needs children to bike to school, hang with peers, and maybe forget, just momentarily, any mobility limitations. Parents, seeing their child gleefully biking, can be tearfully emotional.

Those with cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, spina bifida and genetic disorders benefit physically, socially and emotionally by riding adaptive bikes, according to Joanne Pygon, assistant director of physical therapy for Easterseals DuPage and Fox Valley.

In 2016, she and physical therapist Laura Basi organized Easterseals' Bike for the Kids fundraiser with a three-mile family ride, plus 25- to 100-mile cycling routes. The seventh annual event is Aug. 28 in Elgin.

For the full story, click here.

• Good News Sunday will run each weekend. Please visit dailyherald.com/newsletters to sign up for our Good News Sunday newsletter.