diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 141a378eb6..d8fbe60842 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -157,12 +157,17 @@ buildsrc: $(SRCPATH)/crypto/lib/libsodium.a node_exporter NONGO_BIN deps $(ALGOD
 	cd $(SRCPATH) && \
 		go vet $(UNIT_TEST_SOURCES) $(E2E_TEST_SOURCES)
 
+SOURCES_RACE := github.com/algorand/go-algorand/cmd/kmd
+
 ## Build binaries with the race detector enabled in them.
 ## This allows us to run e2e tests with race detection.
+## We overwrite bin-race/kmd with a non -race version due to
+## the incredible performance impact of -race on Scrypt.
 build-race: build
 	@mkdir -p $(GOPATH)/bin-race
 	cd $(SRCPATH) && \
-		GOBIN=$(GOPATH)/bin-race go install $(GOTAGS) -ldflags="$(GOLDFLAGS)" $(SOURCES)
+		GOBIN=$(GOPATH)/bin-race go install $(GOTAGS) -race -ldflags="$(GOLDFLAGS)" $(SOURCES) && \
+		GOBIN=$(GOPATH)/bin-race go install $(GOTAGS) -ldflags="$(GOLDFLAGS)" $(SOURCES_RACE)
 
 NONGO_BIN_FILES=$(GOPATH)/bin/find-nodes.sh $(GOPATH)/bin/update.sh $(GOPATH)/bin/updatekey.json $(GOPATH)/bin/COPYING
 
diff --git a/daemon/kmd/server/server.go b/daemon/kmd/server/server.go
index cd4d9b9662..e3298fea1e 100644
--- a/daemon/kmd/server/server.go
+++ b/daemon/kmd/server/server.go
@@ -101,15 +101,13 @@ func ValidateConfig(cfg WalletServerConfig) error {
 
 // MakeWalletServer takes a WalletServerConfig, and returns a validated,
 // configured WalletServer.
-func MakeWalletServer(config WalletServerConfig) (WalletServer, error) {
-	var ws WalletServer
-
+func MakeWalletServer(config WalletServerConfig) (*WalletServer, error) {
 	err := ValidateConfig(config)
 	if err != nil {
-		return ws, err
+		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	ws = WalletServer{
+	ws := &WalletServer{
 		WalletServerConfig: config,
 		netPath:            filepath.Join(config.DataDir, NetFilename),
 		pidPath:            filepath.Join(config.DataDir, PIDFilename),
@@ -144,7 +142,7 @@ func (ws *WalletServer) releaseFileLock() error {
 }
 
 // Write out a file containing the address kmd is listening on
-func (ws WalletServer) writeStateFiles(netAddr string) (err error) {
+func (ws *WalletServer) writeStateFiles(netAddr string) (err error) {
 	// netPath file contains path to sock file
 	err = ioutil.WriteFile(ws.netPath, []byte(netAddr), 0640)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -156,7 +154,7 @@ func (ws WalletServer) writeStateFiles(netAddr string) (err error) {
 }
 
 // Delete the state files generated by writeStateFiles
-func (ws WalletServer) deleteStateFiles() {
+func (ws *WalletServer) deleteStateFiles() {
 	os.Remove(ws.pidPath)
 	os.Remove(ws.netPath)
 }
@@ -164,7 +162,7 @@ func (ws WalletServer) deleteStateFiles() {
 // makeWatchdogCallback generates a callback function that either 1. does
 // nothing if ws.Timeout is nil, or 2. kicks a watchdog timer that will kill
 // kmd when it expires.
-func (ws WalletServer) makeWatchdogCallback(kill chan os.Signal) func() {
+func (ws *WalletServer) makeWatchdogCallback(kill chan os.Signal) func() {
 	// If Timeout is nil, then we will not kill kmd after a timeout
 	if ws.Timeout == nil {
 		return func() {}
@@ -193,7 +191,7 @@ func (ws WalletServer) makeWatchdogCallback(kill chan os.Signal) func() {
 // returns an error if it was unable to start the server. It reads from the
 // `kill` channel in order to shut down the server gracefully, and returns a
 // `died` channel that will be written after the server exits.
-func (ws WalletServer) Start(kill chan os.Signal) (died chan error, sock string, err error) {
+func (ws *WalletServer) Start(kill chan os.Signal) (died chan error, sock string, err error) {
 	// Ensure we're the only instance of kmd running in this data directory
 	err = ws.acquireFileLock()
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/test/framework/fixtures/libgoalFixture.go b/test/framework/fixtures/libgoalFixture.go
index 0b29c7e922..200216f0dc 100644
--- a/test/framework/fixtures/libgoalFixture.go
+++ b/test/framework/fixtures/libgoalFixture.go
@@ -278,6 +278,14 @@ func (f *LibGoalFixture) ShutdownImpl(preserveData bool) {
 	}
 }
 
+// intercept baseFixture.failOnError so we can clean up any algods that are still alive
+func (f *LibGoalFixture) failOnError(err error, message string) {
+	if err != nil {
+		f.network.Stop(f.binDir)
+		f.baseFixture.failOnError(err, message)
+	}
+}
+
 // PrimaryDataDir returns the data directory for the PrimaryNode for the network
 func (f *LibGoalFixture) PrimaryDataDir() string {
 	return f.network.PrimaryDataDir()