José Carlos Pace was born in São Paulo, Brazil, to Angelo Raphael Pace, a textiles businessman, and Amélia Pace. Both parents were of Italian descent. During part of his childhood the family lived in Italy; on returning to Brazil Pace spoke only Italian, earning him the nickname "Moco." While his elder brothers helped their father in the family business, Pace studied accounting. He was encouraged by friends Wilson Fittipaldi and Emerson Fittipaldi to start karting. He first raced a kart in 1960 and moved to cars in 1963.
Pace was a contemporary of the Fittipaldi brothers and began racing in Brazil in the late 1960s. He travelled to Europe in 1970 and competed in British Formula 3, winning the Forward Trust Championship in a Lotus car. In 1971 he moved up to Formula Two with Frank Williams, without scoring points from six races. He entered Formula One in 1972 driving a Williams-entered March, scoring points on two occasions and finishing eighteenth in the Drivers' Championship. His best result was a second-place finish in the non-championship Victory Race. He also competed in further Formula Two and Can-Am races that year.
For 1973 Pace moved to the Surtees team, improving to eleventh in the championship. He recorded a fourth place in Germany and his first championship podium with third in Austria, setting the fastest lap in both events. He also drove for the works Ferrari team in the World Sportscar Championship, sharing a 312PB with Arturo Merzario. The pair finished second at the Nürburgring and second at Le Mans — where they started from pole position — and third at Watkins Glen.
Pace remained with Surtees for the start of 1974, finishing fourth in Brazil, but parted company mid-season after falling out with founder John Surtees. He drove a privately entered Brabham for Goldie Hexagon Racing at the French Grand Prix but failed to qualify, before joining the works Brabham team alongside Carlos Reutemann. After initially struggling with the new machinery, he finished fifth and set the fastest lap at Monza, then finished second behind Reutemann at Watkins Glen, securing a one-two for Brabham.
The Brabham BT44B was competitive throughout 1975. Pace took his first and only Formula One victory in front of his home crowd at the Brazilian Grand Prix, took his first pole position at the following race in South Africa, and also finished on the podium at Monaco and Silverstone. He ended the season sixth overall in the Drivers' Championship, helping Brabham to second in the Constructors' Championship behind Ferrari.
For 1976, Brabham switched from Ford-Cosworth to Alfa Romeo engines. The Italian flat-12 units were larger, heavier, less reliable, and less economical than the V8 they replaced, restricting Pace to fourteenth in the championship. Reutemann left the team before the season's end.
By the start of 1977, competitiveness and durability of the Alfa engines had improved for Pace and his new teammate John Watson. Pace demonstrated this by taking second place at the season opener in Argentina and running strongly in the next two races before suffering mechanical trouble.
Pace married Elda d'Andrea in 1968, his girlfriend of ten years. His father committed suicide in 1972 due to business-related issues; Pace was not told until after achieving his maiden championship points at the Spanish Grand Prix with a sixth-place finish. His friend Carlo Gancia said Pace "loved his father more than anything." In 1977, Pace returned to Brazil after the South African Grand Prix deeply affected by the death of Tom Pryce. His wife Elda recalled: "he was very upset. Most drivers were cool, they needed to be cool, but I saw him crying after accidents four or five times." Gancia added that "he was touched and moved by these things because everybody liked him and he made friends around the pitlane."
Pace was killed in a private light aircraft accident near Mairiporã, close to São Paulo, on 18 March 1977 — 13 days after fellow F1 driver Tom Pryce and marshal Frederik Jansen van Vuuren lost their lives during the 1977 South African Grand Prix. The Interlagos circuit, where he had won in 1975, was renamed Autódromo José Carlos Pace in his honour. He was buried in the Araçá cemetery in São Paulo. After the 1977 season, long-time friend Bernie Ecclestone helped Pace's widow Elda sort out their finances.
In August 2024, after his mausoleum at the Araçá cemetery was vandalized, Pace's body was transferred to the Interlagos circuit. The relocation was organised by the president of the Confederação Brasileira de Automobilismo (CBA), Paulo "Loco" Figueiredo, and journalist Ricardo Caruso, with the support of Pace's family. At the ceremony, his son Rodrigo drove a 1967 Karmann-Ghia from the old Dacon team — a car Pace had raced alongside the Fittipaldi brothers — to the burial site beside the circuit's bust of the driver. Pace became the first departed driver ever to be buried at a race circuit.
In December 2025, the bust at the circuit was damaged during a fight following a Stock Car Brasil event. The São Paulo state government issued a statement promising reconstruction of a new bust.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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