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.

The concept of Swedish candy is on its way to becoming as iconic as Swedish cars, music, and design. If you ask Swedish-born Maria Stolt, founder of "Nantasket Sweets by Swedes", it is already there.

So, I steered this road trip podcast to her store at 165 Nantasket Avenue, South of Boston, to ask the inevitable question:

- What is it about Swedish candy that makes it so special?

Steered the road trip to Brooklyn, New York, to talk to Swedish trumpet player Oskar Stenmark, about life as a Swedish musician in the world's biggest melting pot, and about finding your voice through your roots.

Because Oskar comes from a family with generations of musicians behind him, some of whom already toured the United States during the middle of the last century - a discovery that has given him unexpected encounters and an opportunity to go full circle on his family's musical legacy.

I met with Thomas McIntyre Schultz, Communications at Volvo Cars USA, at their headquarters in Mahwah, New Jersey, to talk about Volvo's 70-year history in the United States, how it all started, and the footprints of the company's innovative spirit.

But halfway into this journey, this was also a good opportunity to get to know Thomas as one of my key partners in this adventure. So we got to talk about his Swedish connection, life in New York City, road-tripping in a Volvo - and the weirdness of a Swedish Pizza.

There's a building at 2900 K Street, Northwest, in Washington, DC, overlooking the Potomac River. It's designed by Swedish architects and built from materials reflecting Swedish roots and traditions, and in 2006, it was inaugurated by the King and Queen of Sweden as the home for the Embassy of Sweden - making it the official Swedish footprint in the United States.

It is known as the "House of Sweden" - and it all started with Swedish-born Kate Novak.

Telling these stories from a road trip wouldn't be possible without the complex infrastructure of a mobile network, so I met with Peter Borsos, Head of Communications at Ericsson, in Washington, D.C., to talk about the company's 150-year history - 120 of those making a Swedish footprint in the United States, surviving both financial crashes and international bribery scandals - and how leaving the battle of smart phones transformed the company into one of the world's most trusted manufacturers of mobile infrastructure with 60 % of the American market.

- And about speed!

6G is coming to our lives soon, and the big question is, how much more speed do we need before we’re satisfied?

As this road trip passed through Boone, North Carolina, I was fortunate enough to sit down with Scott Segerstrom, who shared his family's story, starting with his great-great-grandfather, Anders Frederick Andersson, and his thirteen determined daughters, who all left a life in a cave outside Tybble, Sweden, to seek fortune in Mead, Nebraska.

With a calm voice and a yellow notepad, Scott takes us past brutal landowners, famine, and death, through Ellis Island, New York, Wilmington, Boston - all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge.

- It's the story that echoes together with thousands of other Swedes who all shared a similar fate when leaving Sweden for a better life in the United States of America. But this one has its own golden twist in the end.

The list of Swedish artists on the Billboard 100 is long. Ever since Blue Swede reached number 1 in 1974 with their version of "Hooked on a Feeling", Swedes have frequently appeared on this iconic chart in the American music industry.

- A Swedish footprint in popular culture that has become an industry standard.

To try and get some answers on how this keeps happening, I drove to Bentonville, Arkansas, to meet up with Troy Campbell, artist, songwriter, and founder of House of Songs, to hear the story of how his life project started, and how it led him to collaborate with international artists while growing a great love for Swedish music, producers, and songwriters.

- It's an outsider's view - from the inside.