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"the US and Indy Car/CART just does not seem to be able to produce a driver capable of driving a F1 car succesfully" seems very true.
Jacques Villenueve is an interesting point, and was of course successful in F1 (can't be more successful than winning the World Championship, like he did in 97).
But he was not really a product of the US or Indy Car/CART system. Like all F1 drivers, he cut his teeth in karting and the European and Japanese formula series. JV did drive a couple of seasons in CART (where of course he was very successful right out of the box), but wasn't a product of the system.
The F1 cars operate on such a razor's edge, I think the jump for a driver used to the relatively piggish CART style cars is just too much.
On the other hand, for drivers brought up in F1, who have because of age lost their razor sharp reaction times and became no longer competitive in F1, CART proved easy "retirement house" pickings. Mansell, Fittipaldi, etc. When you are used to 100 mph fastballs, it's easy coming to a league where they pitch 70.
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