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Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey to serve as Grand Marshal of Dover NASCAR race

Delaware Business Daily - 5/30/2017

Gordon Ramsay, the Scotland-born celebrity chef, will serve as the grand marshal for the "AAA 400 Drive for Autism" Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway on Sunday, June 4

Ramsay will give the command for the 40 drivers in the "AAA 400 Drive for Autism" field to start their engines before the green flag drops.

Ramsay will be on hand as he promotes a new weekly live cooking competition and talk show "The F Word," which premieres on Wednesday, May 31 on Fox.

The name of the show plays up his on-screen persona as an ill-tempered hard-drivingchef prone to utter a bleeped out word that begins with an f. Ramsay is not the first celebrity chef to be part of Dover'sNASCAR weekend.

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Throughout each hour-long episode, cooking competition will be combined with a variety show as Ramsay chats with surprise guests and VIPs in the dining room and appears in unique field segments with fans and culinary experts.

Throughout each hour-long episode, cooking competition will be combined with a variety show as Ramsay chats with guests and VIPs in the dining room and appears in unique field segments with fans and culinary experts, a Dover Speedway release reported.

"We're really ramping it up a notch with this new live cooking show each week," Ramsay said. "I can't wait for viewers to see the other surprises we have in store for each episode."

Ramsay's other productions include the Fox shows "Masterchef," "Masterchef Junior," "Hell's Kitchen," and "Masterchef Celebrity Showdown." Ramsay operates a restaurant in Caesar's in Atlantic City along with dozens of other dining spots, primarily the U.S. and Europe.

The "AAA 400 Drive for Autism" Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race is the centerpiece of the June 2-4NASCAR weekend, which also includes the "Bar Harbor 200" presented by Sea Watch International NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on Friday, June 2 and the "OneMain Financial 200" NASCAR XFINITY Series Dash 4 Cash race on Saturday, June 3.

Ramsay is not the first celebrity chef to be part of Dover'sNASCAR weekend. Mario Batali also made an appearance several years ago.

NASAR has been working to broaden its appeal attendance declines

Factors have included the loss of blue collar jobs within an aging fan base, retirements of popular drivers and a boom and bust cycle that was also hit by the economic downturn of 2008 and 2009.

Dover's Monster Mile and other tracks have removed thousands of seats in the past several years. The Delaware track hosts two NASCAR weekends a year.