The legendary Indianapolis 500 is held annually at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indiana. With 350,000 to 400,000 people in the audience, it's the largest single-day sporting event in the world - turning the arena into the second-largest city in Indiana during the event.

It's one day, 200 laps, 500 miles - and Felix Rosenqvist from Värnamo in Sweden is the reigning champion, winning the 3-hour race with a 0,0233-second margin.

I steered this road trip to his home in Indianapolis to talk about the victory and to learn what led him to this place.

- What does it take to be the fastest man when it matters the most, and where do you go when you're at the top?

John Hedman's great-grandfather Per arrived with his family in New Sweden in 1871. Met by an unkept promise of cleared land from the state of Maine, he and his fellow Swedes took matters into their own hands and built a life in the wild forests north of Caribou.

- They had two choices: work together or die alone.

Step by step, land was cleared, houses built, farm life grew - and the family named their community of homesteads "Jemtland" - after the county in Sweden they had all left behind.

I parked my Volvo and Airstream on the small gravel parking lot outside New Sweden Historical Museum, at the crossing of Station Road and Capitol Hill Road, to meet John at the exact same spot where it all started.

On July 23, 1870, a small group of Swedes found their way to the northern parts of Maine, carrying a dream of building a new life. Guided from their homeland by a promise from the state of cabins and cleared land, they were instead met by a rough wilderness and wild forest.

But through hardship and rugged spirit, they established "New Sweden", clearing the path for more Swedes to follow, and today you will find place names in Aroostook County, such as "Jemtland", "Westmanland", and "Stockholm" - all of them signs of Swedes making their mark in American history.

So, I steered this road trip up there to talk to Lukas Lagassé, who served as President of the New Sweden Historical Society for four years, to learn about the people who came there over 100 years ago.