diff --git a/run_tests.py b/run_tests.py
index bb33f913..fd836967 100644
--- a/run_tests.py
+++ b/run_tests.py
@@ -69,7 +69,6 @@ from nose import core
 from nose import result
 
 from nova import log as logging
-from nova.tests import fake_flags
 
 
 class _AnsiColorizer(object):
@@ -211,11 +210,11 @@ class NovaTestResult(result.TextTestResult):
                 break
         sys.stdout = stdout
 
-        # NOTE(lorinh): Initialize start_time in case a sqlalchemy-migrate 
-        # error results in it failing to be initialized later. Otherwise, 
+        # NOTE(lorinh): Initialize start_time in case a sqlalchemy-migrate
+        # error results in it failing to be initialized later. Otherwise,
         # _handleElapsedTime will fail, causing the wrong error message to
         # be outputted.
-        self.start_time = time.time() 
+        self.start_time = time.time()
 
     def getDescription(self, test):
         return str(test)
diff --git a/run_tests.sh b/run_tests.sh
index c3f06f83..2ea221ae 100755
--- a/run_tests.sh
+++ b/run_tests.sh
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ function usage {
   echo ""
   echo "  -V, --virtual-env        Always use virtualenv.  Install automatically if not present"
   echo "  -N, --no-virtual-env     Don't use virtualenv.  Run tests in local environment"
+  echo "  -r, --recreate-db        Recreate the test database."
   echo "  -x, --stop               Stop running tests after the first error or failure."
   echo "  -f, --force              Force a clean re-build of the virtual environment. Useful when dependencies have been added."
   echo "  -p, --pep8               Just run pep8"
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@ function process_option {
     -h|--help) usage;;
     -V|--virtual-env) let always_venv=1; let never_venv=0;;
     -N|--no-virtual-env) let always_venv=0; let never_venv=1;;
+    -r|--recreate-db) let recreate_db=1;;
     -f|--force) let force=1;;
     -p|--pep8) let just_pep8=1;;
     -*) noseopts="$noseopts $1";;
@@ -39,6 +41,7 @@ noseargs=
 noseopts=
 wrapper=""
 just_pep8=0
+recreate_db=0
 
 for arg in "$@"; do
   process_option $arg
@@ -108,6 +111,10 @@ if [ $just_pep8 -eq 1 ]; then
     exit
 fi
 
+if [ $recreate_db -eq 1 ]; then
+    rm tests.sqlite
+fi
+
 run_tests || exit
 
 # NOTE(sirp): we only want to run pep8 when we're running the full-test suite,