diff --git a/hack/make-rules/test.sh b/hack/make-rules/test.sh
index 21cd65c4922..acdce78a57a 100755
--- a/hack/make-rules/test.sh
+++ b/hack/make-rules/test.sh
@@ -71,7 +71,10 @@ KUBE_COVER_REPORT_DIR="${KUBE_COVER_REPORT_DIR:-}"
 # How many 'go test' instances to run simultaneously when running tests in
 # coverage mode.
 KUBE_COVERPROCS=${KUBE_COVERPROCS:-4}
-KUBE_RACE=${KUBE_RACE:-}   # use KUBE_RACE="-race" to enable race testing
+# use KUBE_RACE="" to disable the race detector
+# this is defaulted to "-race" in make test as well
+# NOTE: DO NOT ADD A COLON HERE. KUBE_RACE="" is meaningful!
+KUBE_RACE=${KUBE_RACE-"-race"}
 # Set to the goveralls binary path to report coverage results to Coveralls.io.
 KUBE_GOVERALLS_BIN=${KUBE_GOVERALLS_BIN:-}
 # once we have multiple group supports