Like many young Americans, Bill Sweedler started out at the Skip Barber Racing School. It was back in the 1990s and as he had just gotten married, he preferred to focus on his professional career outside of sports to make a living. But the passion never waned, and the New York native returned to motorsports toward the end of the 2000s. As he specifies on his Twitter account, during the week he dedicated himself to investment funds with Tengram Capital Partners, which he co-founded, and on the weekends, he slipped on his helmet and coveralls to become a driver. One might think it difficult to reconcile the two, but Sweedler explains, "I'll take a liberty and slightly modify one of my favorite quotes from one of my childhood idols, Steve McQueen...'racing is life, everything between is just waiting.' If you are waiting a lot, you might as well find something you love to do! I love my work and I love racing. The balance of making them both fit in life becomes easy then!"

Given Sweedler's record in motorsports, it's easy to believe: victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring (GTC) in 2012, at the Rolex 24 at Daytona (GTD) in 2014, IMSA champion in the GTD class in 2015 and, icing on the cake, win in LM GTE Am at the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans. "Couldn't have scripted the highs and lows any better for 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans. The sad end to Toyota's heartbreak mechanical failure to the constant battle between Ferrari and Ford. This Le Mans is now in the record books along with a Scuderia Corsa class win! The ingredients for success was TEAMWORK! Our engineers, crew, and drivers knew Le Mans could be won with precise preparation of our Ferrari 458GT2. The combination of Scuderia Corsa, Kessel, and support from Michelotto (racing Ferrari GT preparers, editor's note) provided the cohesive teamwork at the highest level. Along with my co-drivers Townsend Bell and Jeff Segal, who both ran flawless stints, awarded our all-American effort to stand atop the podium at the end of 24 hours."

That's two steps better than Sweedler's first participation in the 24 Hours when the trio, well-supported by Sporting Director Stefan Johansson, winner at the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans, had everything to learn: "One year makes all the difference in understanding all the unique nuances of the Le Mans 24. While I have competed in many other endurance races, Le Mans is like no other. All this takes place over a one week period that begins with the scrutineering process which is in the center of downtown Le Mans. After that, the teams prepare for one practice followed by two qualifying sessions over a two-day period of time. Then onto the one-of-a-kind parade on Friday through the streets of downtown Le Mans surrounded by tens of thousand cheering fans. By the time race day comes around the fans swell to more the 250,000 people and all the teams are itching to just RACE!"

While he was impatient to hit the track, Sweedler was just as impatient to reach the end of the race, even though the #62 Ferrari had quite a comfortable lead: "I HATE the end of endurance races when you are leading. So many things can go wrong! But our Ferrari ran at 10/10ths for 24 hours and never let us down!"

At the beginning of 2015, the Ferrari 458 Italia was indeed running like a well-oiled machine, one of the reasons Townsend Bell and Sweedler won in the GTD class (the equivalent of the LM GTE Am class at Le Mans, even though the technical regulations are different) at the end of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season, now called the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship: "What a year in 2015! A dream year for sure! One to always savor as they don't happen so easily. Amazing to look back and now have a class win at Le Mans, Daytona, and Sebring along with two championships (Drivers and Team for Scuderia Corsa, editor's note). Wow, I'm not sure I could have dreamed bigger...accept I would have loved to see my teammate, Townsend Bell get a win at Indy!"

Bell participated once again in the Indy 500 this year and could have won if bad luck hadn't hit like it did early in the year when the duo's program was cut short following the O’Gara outfit's decision to end its involvement. The win at Le Mans means all the more: "Le Mans is the pinnacle race to win as a sportscar competitor. It is such a proud and awestruck feeling to actually accomplish a childhood dream. I'm humbled to be able to race alongside so many amazing competitors and grab a little piece of Le Mans history with my co-drivers and team."

What does it feel like to make one of your dreams come true? "I'm still savoring the win so I haven't dwelled on next year yet! But I can't imagine not being back at such an amazing place defending our win in 2017!"

Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

> Special content and exclusive videos: get more with myACO! Join here!
> More info about the online community myACO free to endurance racing fans here!

Photo: Bill Sweedler at Scrutineering at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.