The 37-year-old and his 'Step Up' co-star ex have slowly reentered the public arena since their apparently amicable split
Channing Tatum made his first public appearance since his split from Jenna Dewan on Sunday. Still not wearing his wedding ring, Tatum did rock some racing gear and smiled a lot as he raced around an IndyCar track.
Tatum served as grand marshal of INDYCAR’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama on Sunday. An eyewitness tells ET that Tatum seemed “excited and happy” to be at the race track. A crowd of fans followed him around once he got to the track and he graciously posed for a few photos before he got to ride in one of the two-seaters with former Bachelor Arie Luyendyk Jr. The eyewitness adds that Channing and Arie had a fun conversation before hitting the track.
Until the race was postponed due to weather, Tatum hung out in the hospitality areas of the track, watching the race with a group of friends. An eyewitness says Tatum wasn’t shy about all of the attention and “really enjoyed mingling with the fans.”
Tatum, 37, who is no stranger to the racetrack, not only starred in the adrenaline-fueled heist-during-a-race film Logan Lucky, but has also taken to the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on his dirt bike.
"There's nothing like when you're going really fast," Tatum said at Sunday's event. "There's no room inside of your mind for anything else, there's just something really pure about it."
After getting a tour and a close look at Luyendyk's racing technology, he got to put on a helmet and race around the rain-slicked track. A small camera caught most of his ride, which showed him unable to keep the smile off of his face the whole time.
"There is no possible way that you can do that without just grinning the entire time," he said afterward. "Anybody that doesn't just giggle the entire time, they have no heart."
"I was giggling like a child," he added.
Tatum and Dewan have kept relatively low profiles since earlier this month when he and Dewan announced their split. But the two have been slowly stepping back into the limelight. Tatum was already spotted out without his wedding ring just last week leaving Heathrow Airport in London, England.
Dewan was spotted out in public earlier this month, still wearing her wedding ring. And she wasn't wearing a whole lot more last week in a racy lingerie pic she posted on Instagram (which Tatum "liked"). On Friday, she made her first public appearance since the split, accepting the award for Humanitarian of the Year at the St. Jude Hope & Heritage Gala in New York City.
For more on Tatum and Dewan's relationship, watch the video below.
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