Nothing is known of the life of Joanie Swift prior to her employment as a student secretary in the Department of Physics at State University in the early 1950's.  While reading back a series of complex equations to one of the faculty, she inadvertently stumbles across Johnny Quick's Speed Formula (3x2(9yz)4a).  Reading it grants her super-speed and she finishes hours of typing in seconds, going so quickly she melts the typewriter.   She is then sent on an errand to another faculty member but overshoots the mark and smashes into the room.  Johnny Chambers in there interviewing the zoologist about and Joanie's sudden arrival smashes his camera. frees a prized bird and sends her flying out the window.

Reciting his equation himself, Chambers switched to his identity as Johnny Quick and captures Joanie before she hits the ground.  She shares the notes that revealed the speed formula and while Johnny tries to dissuade her, she dashes off to make a uniform. Returning in three minutes, the two take flight, tracking down the professor's escaped bird.   Pleased with herself, Joanie joins Johnny in recovered an escaped eel. avoiding a large shark in  the process.   Returning  the university, the professor seeks one more escapee - a small species of mouse.  Joanie finds it first and having a fear of mice, faints dead away.  When she recovers, the speed formula has worn off.  She tells Johnny that she did not memorize the formula, so Johnny offers to recover her notes. As he does, he re-types the page quickly so the formula for speed is no longer included.  She believes that it must have a one-time thing and sadly accepts that her days as the Queen of Speed are over.

As Johnny and Tubby leave the school, Tubby asks Johnny what he will do if she suddenly remembers the formula?  Whether she ever did has not been revealed (Adventure Comics #181).