diff --git a/tools/auto-qa b/tools/auto-qa
index aec89afb..d7541bc4 100755
--- a/tools/auto-qa
+++ b/tools/auto-qa
@@ -486,8 +486,10 @@ do
 	bench-run)
 	    cd $QADIR
 	    
+	    # $BENCHMARK is typically unset, which equates to "all"
+	    #
 	    _log "	    *** run benchmarks"
-	    _sudo ./bench $BENCH_PASSES `id -nu && id -ng` \
+	    _sudo ./bench $BENCH_PASSES `id -nu && id -ng` $BENCHMARK \
 			|| _fail "	    !!! failed to run benchmarks"
 
 	    _log ""