diff --git a/src/fmt/fmt_test.go b/src/fmt/fmt_test.go
index ba99cb0f6a662..f15a0ba8e807a 100644
--- a/src/fmt/fmt_test.go
+++ b/src/fmt/fmt_test.go
@@ -949,11 +949,13 @@ var mallocTest = []struct {
 var _ bytes.Buffer
 
 func TestCountMallocs(t *testing.T) {
-	if testing.Short() {
+	switch {
+	case testing.Short():
 		t.Skip("skipping malloc count in short mode")
-	}
-	if runtime.GOMAXPROCS(0) > 1 {
+	case runtime.GOMAXPROCS(0) > 1:
 		t.Skip("skipping; GOMAXPROCS>1")
+	case raceenabled:
+		t.Skip("skipping malloc count under race detector")
 	}
 	for _, mt := range mallocTest {
 		mallocs := testing.AllocsPerRun(100, mt.fn)
diff --git a/src/fmt/norace_test.go b/src/fmt/norace_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..1267cc34ee332
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/fmt/norace_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+// Copyright 2015 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+// +build !race
+
+package fmt_test
+
+const raceenabled = false
diff --git a/src/fmt/race_test.go b/src/fmt/race_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..ae3147a5b000c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/fmt/race_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+// Copyright 2015 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+// +build race
+
+package fmt_test
+
+const raceenabled = true