PERSONAL FILE

sb "Not even Allah has been there,'' Bedouin shepherds warned Arabian American Oil Co. Geologist Thomas C. Barger when he began to explore the waterless wastes of Saudi Arabia's Rub Al Khali in 1938. But for four years Tom Barger tramped for oil and mapped Rub Al Khali's shifting sands in 130DEG heat, making lifelong friends of sheiks and shepherds, princes and kings. Mastering Arabic, he began to handle Aramco's negotiations with King Ibn Saud's government, was named an Aramco vice president in 1958, president in 1959. Last week in Dhahran, smiling, sinewy (6 ft. 2 in., 200 lbs.) Tom Barger, 52, was named Aramco's chief executive officer to replace retiring Chairman Norman Hardy. Says a colleague: "You just have to be easygoing to live for 24 years in Saudi Arabia."

sb Never at a loss for a grandiose idea, Manhattan Real Estate Tycoon William Zeclcendorf, boss of the widespread Webb & Knapp empire, acquired a controlling interest in Yonkers Raceway for International Recreation Corp., a Webb & Knapp affiliate. Estimated cost: $17 million. Zeckendorf's avowed intention is to build a geodesic dome over the track to make it a year-round sports arena. More likely, he will merge the profitable Yonkers with International in order to write off the losses on International's Freedomland amusement park, which has yet to show a profit. Always in need of ready cash, Zeckendorf also unloaded the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Los Angeles for $5,000,000.

sb Moving out of his father's shadow, Gilbert W. Humphrey, 45, president of Cleveland's M. A. Hanna and son of former Secretary of the Treasury George M. Humphrey, announced that Hanna plans to divest itself of operating control of its vast coal, iron ore, and shipping interests to set up as a closed-end investment company. Board chairman of the reorganized firm, which will have assets of $500 million and a liquid working capital of $60 million to spend on diversifying its investments: "Bud" Humphrey.

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