The NASCAR season has been over for two weeks now but Marcos Ambrose has by no means been relaxing.

Last week, Ambrose was back home in the Australian state of Tasmania. A television crew from the Outdoor Channel spent the week with Ambrose filming a segment on the NASCAR driver for an episode of the show ‘Gold Fever’. The episode will air early next year.

“We did some camping, went down some mine shafts, did some gold panning, meet some characters in the local towns and stuff and it was just a really, really great trip and I'm pleased to have been able to facilitate it,” Ambrose, who is a big fan of the show and an avid gold prospector, said. “I'm a bit of a ‘rock hound’ myself. I started watching 'Gold Fever' and I emailed the Producer and we got talking and went out for lunch earlier this year and floated the idea that if they want to come out to Australia and do a show, I've got the perfect spot.”

After his busy week with the ‘Gold Fever’ crew, Ambrose went to the mainland to accept the Sir Jack Brabham Award by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) at the final event of the 2009 season for the V8 Supercar Championship Series in Sydney.

The prestigious award honors an Australian motor sport competitor for their outstanding achievements and local success as well as their talent, determination and success on the International level.

“The award is unexpected and I feel privileged to be given the nod for it,” Ambrose said. “Jack and the whole Brabham family are pioneers in Australian racing and it's a privilege to be given the honour of this award and I hold it in high regard and I am very thankful that I've been given the nod for it.”

This busy pace for the short NASCAR off season does not look to slow down for the Aussie. Ambrose has announced that he will run in the Dubai 24 Hour Sportscar race January 14-16, 2010.

He will get behind the wheel of the No. 148 Ferrari F430 GT2 with teammates Rob Kaufman, Michael Waltrip, Rui Aguas and Niki Cadei.

“Rob Kaufman, who is a part owner of Michael Waltrip Racing, has his own race team in Europe that he 'plays with' and because JTG Daugherty Racing has an association and close alliance with MWR I thought it would be great fun to go across and help Rob out,” he said. “It will help me out too because it gets me back behind the wheel of a race car again before the season starts. I've never been to Dubai and I've never raced a 24-hour race over in the Middle East, so it's a racing first for me.”

After all that is over, Ambrose will hop back into his No. 47 Little Debbie/Kingsford/Clorox Toyota for the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 in February.

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