diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 8ce19f688f0..b0383b0558f 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ script:
   - KUBE_TIMEOUT='-timeout 60s' ./hack/test-go.sh
   - PATH=$HOME/gopath/bin:./third_party/etcd/bin:$PATH ./hack/test-cmd.sh
   - PATH=$HOME/gopath/bin:./third_party/etcd/bin:$PATH ./hack/test-integration.sh
+  - ./hack/benchmark-go.sh
 
 notifications:
   irc: "chat.freenode.net#google-containers"
diff --git a/hack/benchmark-go.sh b/hack/benchmark-go.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..cdbe420f83d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hack/benchmark-go.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Copyright 2014 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+set -e
+
+KUBE_COVER=" " KUBE_RACE=" " hack/test-go.sh "" -test.run="^X" -benchtime=1s -bench=. -benchmem
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/hack/test-go.sh b/hack/test-go.sh
index 015d1098f6d..aaca6b61d13 100755
--- a/hack/test-go.sh
+++ b/hack/test-go.sh
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ find_test_pkgs() {
 # -covermode=atomic becomes default with -race in Go >=1.3
 KUBE_COVER=${KUBE_COVER:--cover -covermode=atomic}
 KUBE_TIMEOUT=${KUBE_TIMEOUT:--timeout 60s}
+KUBE_RACE=${KUBE_RACE:--race}
 
 cd "${KUBE_TARGET}"
 
@@ -121,7 +122,7 @@ if [[ "${iterations}" -gt 1 ]]; then
     count=0
     for i in $(seq 1 ${iterations}); do
       if go test "${goflags[@]:+${goflags[@]}}" \
-          -race ${KUBE_TIMEOUT} "${pkg}"; then
+          ${KUBE_RACE} ${KUBE_TIMEOUT} "${pkg}"; then
         pass=$((pass + 1))
       else
         fails=$((fails + 1))
@@ -145,7 +146,7 @@ if [[ -n "$1" ]]; then
     mkdir -p "${covdir}/${arg}"
     pkg=${KUBE_GO_PACKAGE}/${arg}
     go test "${goflags[@]:+${goflags[@]}}" \
-        -race \
+        ${KUBE_RACE} \
         ${KUBE_TIMEOUT} \
         ${KUBE_COVER} -coverprofile="${covdir}/${arg}/coverage.out" \
         "${pkg}"
@@ -154,6 +155,6 @@ if [[ -n "$1" ]]; then
 fi
 
 find_test_pkgs | xargs go test "${goflags[@]:+${goflags[@]}}" \
-    -race \
+    ${KUBE_RACE} \
     ${KUBE_TIMEOUT} \
     ${KUBE_COVER}
diff --git a/pkg/api/serialization_test.go b/pkg/api/serialization_test.go
index 3203eccc2fe..a464c0d96c4 100644
--- a/pkg/api/serialization_test.go
+++ b/pkg/api/serialization_test.go
@@ -17,7 +17,9 @@ limitations under the License.
 package api_test
 
 import (
+	"encoding/json"
 	"flag"
+	"math/rand"
 	"reflect"
 	"testing"
 
@@ -203,3 +205,57 @@ func TestBadJSONRejection(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("Kind is set but doesn't match the object type: %s", badJSONKindMismatch)
 	}*/
 }
+
+const benchmarkSeed = 100
+
+func BenchmarkEncode(b *testing.B) {
+	pod := api.Pod{}
+	apiObjectFuzzer.RandSource(rand.NewSource(benchmarkSeed))
+	apiObjectFuzzer.Fuzz(&pod)
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		latest.Codec.Encode(&pod)
+	}
+}
+
+// BenchmarkEncodeJSON provides a baseline for regular JSON encode performance
+func BenchmarkEncodeJSON(b *testing.B) {
+	pod := api.Pod{}
+	apiObjectFuzzer.RandSource(rand.NewSource(benchmarkSeed))
+	apiObjectFuzzer.Fuzz(&pod)
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		json.Marshal(&pod)
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkDecode(b *testing.B) {
+	pod := api.Pod{}
+	apiObjectFuzzer.RandSource(rand.NewSource(benchmarkSeed))
+	apiObjectFuzzer.Fuzz(&pod)
+	data, _ := latest.Codec.Encode(&pod)
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		latest.Codec.Decode(data)
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkDecodeInto(b *testing.B) {
+	pod := api.Pod{}
+	apiObjectFuzzer.RandSource(rand.NewSource(benchmarkSeed))
+	apiObjectFuzzer.Fuzz(&pod)
+	data, _ := latest.Codec.Encode(&pod)
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		obj := api.Pod{}
+		latest.Codec.DecodeInto(data, &obj)
+	}
+}
+
+// BenchmarkDecodeJSON provides a baseline for regular JSON decode performance
+func BenchmarkDecodeJSON(b *testing.B) {
+	pod := api.Pod{}
+	apiObjectFuzzer.RandSource(rand.NewSource(benchmarkSeed))
+	apiObjectFuzzer.Fuzz(&pod)
+	data, _ := latest.Codec.Encode(&pod)
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		obj := api.Pod{}
+		json.Unmarshal(data, &obj)
+	}
+}