Brakes hit for Corvette honors

By Karey Wutkowski

DETROIT (Reuters) - Chicken, cornhole and Corvettes. An effort to honor General Motors' iconic Corvette as the official sports car of Kentucky has stalled in the state's legislature along with efforts to honor other famous exports.

General Motors Corp assembles Corvettes at a plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where it employs almost 1,000 workers. There are plans to add 2,000 more workers when the company adds two more vehicle lines by 2012.

C.B. Embry Jr., a Republican member of Kentucky's General Assembly, introduced a measure earlier this year to boost the state's spirits and honor "one of the bright spots" of Kentucky's economy.

But with pressing issues such as the state budget, casino gambling and proposed tax hikes occupying the legislature, the effort to honor the Corvette has been tabled for now.

Other measures put on hold include a proposal to name Kentucky Fried Chicken as the official picnic food and to make cornhole -- a bean bag toss game -- the official state game.

"It would still be easy to spend five or 10 minutes to do this bill," Embry told Reuters in an interview. "We certainly waste a lot more time than that standing around."

Embry has gamely pushed to name the Corvette as the state's sports car, instead of the state's official car, to avoid minimizing the contributions of Ford Motor Co and Toyota Motor Corp, which also build vehicles in Kentucky.

A spokeswoman for GM said the company would be very happy if the bill gets passed, but understands the reasoning behind the delay as the legislature grapples with other topics.